Colin Priest

Neerja Bhanot was a flight attendant on Pan Am Flight 73 when it was hijacked in Pakistan by Palestinian terrorists on September 5, 1986. She helped the pilots escape, saved American passengers from execution, and opened the emergency door so hundreds could jump to safety. Ultimately, she was killed while shielding three children from gunfire. Twenty-two-year-old Indian air hostess Neerja Bhanot was always a woman of courage and convictions. Despite the traditions of her culture and her family's protests, she left her arranged marriage when her husband proved abusive. Then she struck out on her own and began working as both a model and a flight attendant for Pan Am. But shortly after she began her new career in the skies, disaster struck when a flight she was working was hijacked by four terrorists in 1986. Though she was new to the job, she proved to be the greatest hero of the entire ordeal. Over the course of 17 harrowing hours, she helped both the pilots and hundreds of passengers to escape. In the end, she was killed while using her body to protect three children from gunfire. Bhanot was posthumously awarded medals of bravery from India, Pakistan, and the United States. And one of the children she saved grew up to be a pilot himself and credited Bhanot for his decision.