The World: Terror and Triumph at Mogadishu

After a 110-hour ordeal, a dramatic eleven-minute rescue

In the early afternoon of Oct. 13, Lufthansa air control in Frankfurt sent a terse message to all planes in the Mediterranean area: "Keep us posted with every piece of information you get." Listening to his short-wave set in his Tel Aviv apartment, Israeli Radio-TV Reporter Michael Gurdus immediately guessed that a Lufthansa jet had been hijacked. For the next five days, Gurdus recorded the remarkable radio traffic between Germany, the Middle East and Africa as Flight 181—designated Charlie Echo —flew precariously on to Rome, Cyprus,...

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