Malaysian Airline System Flight 653

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-2H6{{efn|The aircraft was a Boeing 737-200 model; Boeing assigns a unique customer code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft is built. The code for Malaysian Airline System (now Malaysia Airlines) is "H6", hence "737-2H6".}} registered as {{Airreg|9M|MBD|.}} It had been delivered new to MAS in September 1972 with registration {{Airreg|9M|AQO|.}}{{cite web|last=Ranter|first=Harro|title=Hijacking description, Boeing 737-2H6 9M-MBD|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19771204-0|access-date=9 March 2014|website=Aviation Safety Network|publisher=Flight Safety Foundation}}

Flight 653 departed from Runway 22 at Penang International Airport at 19:21 for Kuala Lumpur's Subang Airport (now known as Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport).{{cite news|title=328 killed in nine incidents|date=1 September 1996|work=New Straits Times|page=4}}

Captain GK Ganjoor and First Officer Karamuzaman Jali were making landing preparations at 19:54, while at an altitude of {{convert|4000|feet|m}} over Batu Arang and descending toward Runway 33 at Subang Airport, when the crew reported to Subang Tower that an "unidentified hijacker" was on board, after someone knocked on the cockpit doors.{{Cite web|last=Taylor|first=Phil|date=2014-04-14|title=Hijacked airman's family still suffering 37 years after crash|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hijacked-airmans-family-still-suffering-37-years-after-crash/5PO4SXOLJKD3YC5I3IXQM337UA/|access-date=2021-03-12|website=The New Zealand Herald }} Subsequently, the pilots were forced to cut off all communications by one or more hijackers who suddenly barged into the cockpit. The tower immediately notified the authorities, who made emergency preparations at the airport.{{Cite web|title=Revisited after 36 years: Malaysia Airlines MH653|url=http://sjpost.blogspot.com/2013/12/revisited-after-36-years-malaysia.html|access-date=2019-07-01}}

A few minutes later, the crew radioed: "We're now proceeding to Singapore. Good night."{{cite news|title=Asian Rebound Boosts Startups, But Safely Remains A Concert {{sic}}|last=Dennis|first=William|date=4 January 2000|work=Aviation Daily}} In the last few minutes of the tapes from the cockpit voice recorder, investigators heard conversation between the pilots and the hijackers about how the aircraft would run out of fuel before it could make it to Singapore, followed by a series of gunshots. They concluded that both the pilot and co-pilot were fatally shot by the hijacker, which left the plane "professionally uncontrolled".{{cite news|last1=Boykoff|first1=Pamela|last2=Mohsin|first2=Saima|date=28 March 2014|title=Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 surfaces pain of 1977 tragedy|work=CNN |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/27/world/asia/malaysia-mh653-crash-relatives/index.html?hpt=hp_c1|access-date=28 March 2014}} At 20:15, all communication with the aircraft was lost. At 20:36, the residents of Kampong Ladang, Tanjung Kupang in Johor reported hearing explosions and seeing burning wreckage in a swamp. The wreckage was later identified as the aircraft; it had hit the ground at a near-vertical angle at a very high speed. There were no survivors.

File:Tanjung Kupang Memorial Park.jpg, Johor.]]

The full circumstances of the hijacking and crash were never solved.{{efn|Airport officials at Kuala Lumpur said pilots had radioed that members of the Japanese Red Army (JRA) had hijacked the plane.{{Cite news|date=1977-12-05|title=Investigators Searching Crash Site for Clues About Hijackers|website=Observer-Reporter|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19771205&id=qVtdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9FsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1267,639989|access-date=2021-03-12|via=Google News}} In 1996, while reporting about the hijacking and crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, CNN reporters wrote that the hijackers of MH653 had in fact been identified as Red Army members,{{cite news|date=25 November 1996|title=Ethiopia mourns crash victims|work=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/25/comoros.crash/index.html|url-status=dead|access-date=22 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041223015303/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/25/comoros.crash/index.html|archive-date=23 December 2004|quote=The deadliest previous hijacking took place in 1977, when terrorists identified as the Japanese Red Army took over a Malaysian airlines jet traveling to Kuala Lumpur.}} but this has never been confirmed. A 1978 report conducted by Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation, which included a transcript of available cockpit voice recordings, did not refer to any such communication from the pilots mentioning the JRA, or the identity of the hijackers.}}{{Cite web|last=Dempsey|first=Kylan|date=2020-10-21|title=Who hijacked Malaysia Airlines 653? Revisiting the mystery 43 years on|url=https://southeastasiaglobe.com/malaysia-airlines-653-mystery/|url-access=registration|access-date=2021-10-13|website=Southeast Asia Globe}} An analysis by Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation of evidence from the investigation concludes that:{{cite web |author=Bin Salman |first=Omar |date=August 1978 |title=Boeing 737 9M-MBD: Accident near Gelang Patah, Negeri Johor on 4th December, 1977 – Report 1/78 |url=https://www.mot.gov.my/en/Archived%20BSKU/1970-1979/1978/A%200178%209M-MBD%20%28Tg.%20Kupang%29.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217112707/https://www.mot.gov.my/en/Archived%20BSKU/1970-1979/1978/A%200178%209M-MBD%20%28Tg.%20Kupang%29.pdf |archive-date=17 December 2023 |access-date=17 December 2023 |publisher=Aircraft Accident Investigation Team, Department of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Transport, Malaysia |id=[MoT archive file ref: A 0178 9M-MBD (Tg.Kupang)]}}{{rp|page=23}}

• The aircraft was "hijacked by person or persons unknown", who were determined not to land at Kuala Lumpur
• The crew "carried out their hijack procedures properly and correctly{{nbsp}}... throughout the flight."
• The hijackers incapacitated the crew as the aircraft descended in its approach to Singapore
• There was no explosion, fire, or structural failure prior to impact
• Unusual pitching – up and down – movements occurred in the aircraft's final moments in the air. These manoeuvres were the result of the actions of person or persons unknown and developed until the aircraft's trajectory became unrecoverable, resulting in its impact with the ground

All recovered remains were x-rayed in an attempt to discover evidence of a projectile or weapon, but no such evidence was ever found. The remains of the victims were interred in a mass burial.{{cite news|title=Mass burial planned for unidentified victims|date=18 September 1995|work=New Straits Times|page=7}}

After the incident, the Aviation Security Unit of the Airport Standard Division of the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia was established.{{Cite web |date=24 February 2015 |title=Aviation Security: Key Officers – Profile: Hj. Abdul Rahman Bin Mahat, Director of Aviation Security Division|url=http://www.dca.gov.my/sectors-divisions/aviation-security/|url-status=dead|access-date=2016-09-16 |website= Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia |archive-date=27 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627233907/http://www.dca.gov.my/sectors-divisions/aviation-security/}}

File:Tanjung Kupang Memorial Names.JPG

Passengers included the Malaysian Agricultural Minister, Dato' Ali Haji Ahmad; Public Works Department Head, Dato' Mahfuz Khalid; and Cuban Ambassador to Japan, Mario García Incháustegui.{{cite news|title=Memorial tells a sad tale of neglect|date=15 January 2000|work=Business Times}}{{Cite news|last=Ramendran|first=Charles|date=2021-03-12|title=Who hijacked Flight MH653?|url=https://www.thesundaily.my/local/who-hijacked-flight-mh653-AN7197763|access-date=2021-03-12|work=The Sun}}{{cite news |title=Common burial for air crash victims |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19771208-1.2.94.6 |access-date=23 December 2022 |work=The Straits Times |via=NewspaperSG; National Library Board of Singapore |date=8 December 1977 |language=en-SG}}

The numbers and nationalities{{Primary source inline|reason=Passenger and crew summary appears to rely on the memorial image. A secondary source would be preferable.|date=December 2023}} of the passengers and crew appear in the table below:{{cite news |title=Night minister couldn't sleep {{!}} The full list of passengers {{!}} The crew |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19771206-1.2.3 |work=The Straits Times |via=NewspaperSG; National Library Board of Singapore |date=6 December 1977 |page=1}}

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Category:1977 in Malaysia

Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original

Category:Aircraft hijackings in Asia

Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by hijacking

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Malaysia

653

Category:Mass murder in 1977

Category:Terrorist incidents in Malaysia

Category:December 1977 in Asia

Category:Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators

Category:Terrorist incidents in Malaysia in 1977

Category:1977 crimes in Malaysia

Category:Hijackings in 1977