Vinalian Airlines Flight 3757

Vinalian Airlines Flight 3757

The aircraft landing in Kila International Airport on the morning of the 3rd of February
Hijacking
Date	2–3 February 1994
Summary	Hijacking
Site	2–3 February: Kila International Airport, Velkarichka, Vinalia
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Airbus A300B2-1C (c/n 109)
Operator	Vinalian Airlines
Registration	V-CDFA
Flight origin	Morechia National Airport
Destination	Kila International Airport
Occupants	212 (including 8 hijackers)
Passengers	200 (including 8 hijackers)
Crew	12
Fatalities	9 (2 passengers, 7 hijackers)
Injuries	36 (20 passengers, 4 crew, 11 STSP, 1 hijacker)
Survivors	203

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Vinalian Airlines Flight 3757 was a Vinalian Airlines flight that was hijacked on the 2nd of February 1994 by the South Vinalian Patriotic Council (SVPC) at Morechia National Airport, Morechia. Their initial intention was to take hostage Fedir Mykhajlovych, the son of then current Vinalian Minister-president Vladyslava Danylivna. They sought to hold him hostage to force the release of SVPC leaders, along with ransom for the remaining hostages. After the plane was hijacked and Fedir was not discovered they proceeded with their original plan, after landing in Velkarichka they demanded the release of SVPC leaders and the ransom, but upon delay by Vinalian authorities, and the murder of 2 passengers the Spetsialʹna taktychno-shturmova politsiya (STSP) a counter-terror unit of the Vinalian Federal Police stormed the plane and killed seven hijackers, and injuring another which was later taken into custody.

Background

Vinalia at the time had just celebrated its first election as a newly reunified country the 27th of January, 1994. Vladyslava Danylivna of the Unionist Party had been president of Vinalia in 1993, and previously of the Republic of Vinalia (South Vinalia) from 1988 to 1993. The SVPC had been established in 1989 by former army personnel, and nationalist which had seen the collapse of the military junta of the Kotenko brothers in 1988, and the increasing intention of the Renewal Party of Vladyslava to unify with North Vinalia. The SVPC was headed by a former army general during the junta Andrij Ihnatenko, which had after the return of democracy to South Vinalia been ousted for his position for alleged crimes against the Vinakian population of South Vinalia, during the Vinalian Dirty War. The SVPC sought to maintain South Vinalia's independence and independence from the North, the group had strong connections with the terrorist Episemialist League of North Vinalia, which had conducted terrorist bombings most prominently against the Orlavo Metro. The SVPC had engaged in a campaign of terror in opposition to the attempts at reunification, they claimed responsibility for the bombing of a North Vinalian government building in March 1991, which left 2 dead and 15 injured, they also claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a police station in South Vinalia in November 1991.

Following a police raid on a SVPC safe house in February 1993, numerous members and prominent leaders including Andrij were arrested and sentenced soon after. Bohdan Ruslanovych a former member of the South Vinalian airforce, took up leadership of the group and sought ways to achieve the release of SVPC members, and securing funds for future operations. The SVPC found itself involved in the world of organized crime, the common military background of its members made it easy for SVPC members to involve themselves in the growing arms trafficking business in Vinalia. After SVPC agents identified Fedir Mykhajlovych, the second son of Minister-President Vladyslava Danylivna, and his place of residence in Morechia in September 1993 through an acquaintance, they intended on attacking the residence but after discovery of Fedirs flying patterns which saw him travel to Morechia at the end of the month and remaining there for a week before flying back to Velkarichka. Bohdan sought to hold hostage Fedir on his return flight to Velkarichka where he worked in the Ministry of Justice. Vinalian authorities had been following the remaining cells of the SVPC, and had attempted to infiltrate the new group, Vinalian Federal Police was in debate over whether leads on the SVPC could be pursued, as they spoke of SVPC activity in Morechia, a Northern city which the police reasoned to be of little importance to the SVPC.

Hijacking

2 February

On the afternoon of the 2nd of February at 6pm, the 8 hijackers boarded flight 3757 dressed as policemen, and used said excuse to search the plane for Fedir, whom they did not find. Fedir avoided being on the plane, as he had travelled that day to Orlavo instead of the airport as the hijackers believed. Upon discovering that Fedir was not to be found, and increasing suspicion by passengers and crew they decided to enact their plan once in the air. Once the plane was in the air at around 6:47 pm, 15 minutes after take off, Bohdan approached the cabin and sought to speak with the pilots in capacity as a policemen and former airforce member, but after being held back by suspicious crew members he and the other 7 hijackers took control of the plane. Witnesses described that the men brandished pistols from their uniforms, assault rifles, and grenades from their carry on luggage. After threatening to kill crew members, the hijackers took control of the cockpit and ensured that the plane continued flying to Velkarichka, while they used the inboard radio to communicate, the cockpit crew consisted of captain Feodosij Arturovych, co-pilot Ruslan Tymoshenko, and flight engineer Kristijan Galjani. Introducing himself only as "Captain", initial demands consisted of the release of all SVPC leaders currently in jail, most prominently Andrij, and demanding a ransom of VZ100,000 per occupant, which totaled over VZ21 million Zolotans. At first the inboard radio malfunctioned and thus the demands of Bohdan could not be heard, after numerous attempts the radio connection was reestablished and demands were received. Vinalian authorities sought to land the plane as soon as possible as it allowed them greater control of the situation, but could not dissuade Bohdan from landing the plane in Velkarichka. Vinalian authorities moved towards Velkarichka to receive the aircraft, Vladyslava was informed of the events occurring and authorized the police to begin developing plans to storm the plane on the runway, Vladyslava had been briefed on the whereabouts of her son and after his whereabouts were verified by police, fearing that he too could had been in the plane. A situation room was assembled in the Presidential house in Velkarichka, formed by Vladyslava, President of Vinalia Oleksandr Artemovych, Minister of the Interior Slavik Yakimchuk, Mayor of Velkarichka Dimitri Poroshenko, and chief of the Federal Police Vasya Pogrebinsky,

Inside the aircraft, the hijackers ditched their uniforms switching to clothes found inside passengers carry ons and instructed all occupants to wear life vests, which they intended to use as a distraction shall they need to escape the aircraft, requesting the cooperation of all passengers and crew members. The hijackers referred to one another utilizing numbers, with Bohdan utilizing the number 5. Dmytro Illich (number 1) the only hijacker to survive event, recalls members of the group confusing numbers between members, as the original plan called for Fedir to be apprehended on the ground and for the group to escape without ever reaching the air. The passengers described the atmosphere as calm and relaxing with crew members allowed to serve meals and drinks under the supervision of the hijackers, Kseniya Kyrylivna a passenger recalls the men trying on suits and clothes from the passengers carry on luggage with one wearing and brandishing an expensive watch he had found. During this time Bohdan remained personally in the cockpit while his second in command, Denys Hryshchenko (number 3) maintained control in the back of the plane. Feodosij described Bohdan and the situation inside the cabin as tense and paranoid, with Bohdan asking the location of the airplane and how long until it landed constantly, such behavior was exhibited with negotiators on the radio from which Bohdan demanded constant answers.

In Velkarichka, by 8:15pm a team of 40 Spetsialʹna taktychno-shturmova politsiya (STSP) members had been assembled under the command of Major Orest Savenko, utilizing an Armadillo Air Airbus A300B2-1C parked in the terminal of the airport to train for the eventual storming of the aircraft. Fearing a catastrophe, authorities sought to empty the A31 highway which is the primary route into and outside the airport, paramedics and ambulances were put on standby near the airport and all flights were cancelled or rerouted. By 9:50pm the aircraft arrived to Velkarichka, where it was lead away from terminals and other aircraft into a secluded area of the airport. STSP snipers stood near a building with direct sight into the cockpit of the aircraft. Bohdan entered into communications with the negotiation team, which stalled again as the negotiators demanded the release of some passengers. By 11pm, Bohdan agreed to the release of 19 passengers, those with health conditions and old age, in exchange for food, water, and blankets to spend the night, Bohdan established a deadline of 8am before he started increasing his demands.

3 February

Passengers described the scene inside the aircraft as calm but tense, with the hijackers enjoying conversations over fast food provided by the police, Bohdan emerged from the cockpit at 2am, and quickly reprimanded his crew to their behavior. He quickly delivered long speeches to his crew calling them out for interacting with the passengers, utilizing their real names and not the codenumbers, and wearing passenger clothes, Dmytro recalled that Bohdan had all the crew return what they had stolen from the passengers carry on, and dress themselves with simple garments so as to not attract attention. Bohdan returned to the cockpit at around 4am, and communicated with negotiators again, requesting that bibles be brought on board along with a morning meal at 6am, Dymtro states that Bohdan held numerous short and sporadic conversations with Denys, where he recalls the anger and uncertainty on Bohdan in regards to the situation.

Inside the situation room, Vladyslava held numerous meetings with her team, and after addressing the nation at 11pm, in the steps of the Presidential palace she did not exit the situation room until after the police raid. Although the Vinalian military could not intervene as the constitution prohibited them from carrying out operations inside Vinalia during peacetime, Vladyslava had a team of special forces transported by helicopter to the airport to assist civilians counterparts and if it became necessary intervene on the situation (legislation was set to be approved by the necessary majority of legislators which would have relieved all members of the team off military duty, and thus allowed them to act as private citizens to avoid breaking the constitution.). This technicality was the main reason for the establishment of the People's Guard in 1995, a reserve element of the Army which was to be under the control of individual provincial governors, unless requested by the federal government. Provisions were also started to secure a helicopter, vehicles, or aircraft for the hijackers to escape in shall they request it, hoping they could ambush the hijackers in an area with less civilians, Velkarichka police prepared to carry out this ambush if it became necessary. Vladyslava agreed to initial procedures to secure the funds for the release of the hostages through the Ministry of Finances. Vladyslava was stated to have been out of her element and extremely anxious, she latter confirmed that she had been unable to get much rest during or after the event after the similarities between the hijacking, and the coup that had brought down her fathers Stefan Danylivnas government, and resulted in his latter death in 1980. the scene was tense and nervous later recalled Artemovych on an interview in 2001:

Vlad(yslava) had never been much of a coffee drinker, but that night she single handedly drank 7 cups in the span of 2 hours. After my suggestion for her to slow down, she quickly raised her voice, but quickly apologized. Not once on the 7 years since that night she has never raised her voice again or drank a cup of coffee.

— Oleksandr Artemovych

At 6am, food, and other requested items by the hijackers were delivered, members of the STSP along with the Template:SSV (SSV) delivered this items and after a Satucine passenger onboard presented health issues an SSV paramedic unit was deployed to the aircraft. Bohdan by 8am, had agreed to the release of all foreign nationals with the exception of the Chistovodian co-pilot Ruslan Tymoshenko, along with an extension of his deadline until 12pm. STSP and SSV agents had been able to scout the situation inside the aircraft, and with the reduction in passengers, the possibility of launching a pre emptive raid became increasingly more favorable. A passenger of Gaullican-Vinalian nationality (he had been able to get off the plane after showing his Gaullican passport only) of military background, provided ample information to the authorities, including the names of numerous members, along with patrol routes, number of hijackers, patterns and other crucial information, for this information he was provided an anonymous medal after declining to publicly receive it. The information provided by the agents and the passenger, had proved to be essential upon debriefing the agents informed that the doors were not booby trapped, and that with the release of all the foreign passengers the fewer passengers remained on the rear of the plane for better supervision although some were purposefully scattered on the rest of the aircraft to prevent authorities from easily isolating the passengers from the hijackers.

Bohdan had become increasingly worried of his situation, wanting to get back on the air as soon as possible, he requested at 9am that fuel be provided to the aircraft. After negotiators questioned his motives, he announced he would be moving the deadline to 10:30am, and he stated he would start executing passengers every 5 minutes until they agreed to his demands. Sensing that Bohdan might be bluffing, the negotiators continued proving Bohdan, and instructed STSP to storm the aircraft shall Bohdan execute one passenger. Passengers recalled that the hijackers were nervous with many of them running around the aircraft and checking every corner of the aircraft. Dmytro recalls that Bohdan had grown erratic, calling other hijackers by their names, and holding improvised mass on the aircraft, he recalls Bohdan growing erratic and then requesting that a Episemialist priest be brought on board to conduct mass on the aircraft, after negotiators agreed to look into it. Bohdan began screaming into the radio when he stated that he would kill women and children first shall his demands not be met. With only 15 minutes left, Bohdan cut communications with the negotiators and began the process of selecting a passenger to execute. Kseniya recalls that a man of Vinakian origin was selected by Bohdan to be executed, Kseniya along with Dmytro state that the man had been chosen because he had refused earlier to put on a life vest, upon being selected a small scuffle broke out, between Bohdan, Number 2, and 8 and the man, his wife, and daughter. Dmytro recalls that Bohdan shot the mans daughter and dragged the man to the front of the aircraft where he executed him shortly after, leaving the injured daughter who would later succumb to her wounds. Denys Hryshchenko the second in command which had been assigned to the cockpit had made the mistake of not closing the radio channel upon testing that it worked, captain Feodosij Arturovych had noticed this, and had not brought it up, when the shot that killed the mans daughter was fired at 10:28am, the radio had been able to pick up the sound, as soon as Denys had retreated from the cockpit, Feodosij informed negotiators that a shot had been fired inside the aircraft. Fearing that executions were about to start, Savenko instructed the STSP to launch a raid on the aircraft at 10:33 am.

The STSP intended on assaulting the aircraft utilizing 4 passenger boarding stairs to board the aircraft 2 stairs would reach for the rear doors of the aircraft and begin evacuation of passengers and eliminate any hijackers on the back of the plane, the 3rd boarding stair would assault the front right door of the aircraft to assault the cockpit, while a 4th staircase would park on the left section of the wing, which if need be could storm into the wing door and open into the middle of the plane. In preparation of the storming of the aircraft, roads were closed to allow for the quick transfer of wounded passengers and law enforcement, through ambulances along with numerous funerary vehicles, for any possible fatalities. At 10:34 the 4 boarding stairs set off, and arrived at 10:35 on the airplane with the front door staircase at 10:36.

Raid

Raid on Vinalian Airlines Flight 3757
Date 3 February 1994 Location Velkarichka, Vinalia Result STSP victory
Belligerents
STSP	SVPC
Commanders and leaders
Major Orest Savenko	Bohdan Ruslanovych †
Strength
40 STSP Operators	8 hijackers
Casualties and losses
11 wounded	7 killed, 1 wounded
1 passenger was already dead prior to the raid 1 passenger had been mortally wounded prior to the raid and died the day after 20 passengers wounded 4 crew wounded

At 10:35 the rear door staircases reached the back doors, upon noticing this several hijackers moved forward on the airplane rushing to reach the cockpit, only Dmytro Illich remained in the back of the plane as he rushed towards the rear left door, as the door opened he tripped and fell to floor as the door swung open he was shot two times in the leg and taken into custody. STSP operators entered the aircraft screaming for passengers to keep their heads down. Upon entering the aircraft STSP operators launched stun grenades into the aircraft as they made their way across the hallways of the aircraft another hijacker was shot dead on the back of the plane heading to the cockpit. The 4th stair was called into action at 10:37, and its members entered the aircraft through its left wing door killing one hijacker, and engaging into a gun fight with another. After passengers attacked the remaining hijacker number 8 for his involvement in the earlier execution were police able to advance and attack the man, he would be taken into custody but would die of his wounds soon after.

Bohdan was outside the cockpit upon the police entry, and he embroiled himself in fight with STSP operators, throwing a grenade into the forward team, injuring 4 STSP members, members of the window team rushed and gunned Bohdan down after he had attempted to throw another grenade at them, but was caught in the middle of the hallway after a piece of luggage was thrown by a passenger into Bohdans path tripping him and allowing police to gun him down before he could activate the grenade. Now only 3 hijackers remained in the cockpit of the plane, where they engaged on a brutal firefight against members of the 1st team, Denys now the leader of the group threw a grenade into the STSP contingent but detonated to the back of the operators, injuring 6 passengers which were sat near the front along with 2 operators. As more agents made their way into the aircraft, the 3 cockpit crew threw themselves to the ground. Such a move allowed STSP snipers to spray the cockpit with fire hitting all 3 hijackers and killing one on the spot, the hijackers settled down into sporadic fire threatening they would blow up the plane with explosives or murder the cockpit crew.

Police continued to struggle with the cockpit crew with repeated attempts at throwing explosive to force the hijackers out failing. After around 15 minutes of firing, Denys was struck by a sniper round and died on the spot, leaving only Number 7 on the cockpit, who after 10 more minutes ran out of munition and committed suicide, police entered the cockpit soon after and rescued all 3 members of the cockpit crew, including the captain who was in serious condition. After visually confirming the identities of all 8 hijackers including Dmytro, the police began clearing the aircraft of any claimed explosives but found none.

The operation had been deemed an extensive success, no STSP personnel died in the raid, and no further civilian deaths were presented. In the end 20 passengers had received injuries during the raid, 3 were in serious conditions following the use of explosives by both sides in the front of the plane, while a further 11 had been injured as well in the front of the plane, 6 passengers had been injured in the middle of the plane following the brief firefight in that section of the plane 2 having been injured by the scuffle with the hijacker, while 1 crew member was injured in the back of the plane when a stun grenade hit their leg. The other 3 crew members injured were the 3 in the cockpit. STSP casualties had been high, as 11 were wounded during the raid, including 1 that had fallen from the wing of the plane and fractured both legs, STSP casualties included numerous gunshot wounds and fractured bones, the most dangerous of this injuries was on an operator which shot Bohdan before receiving two shots to the chest. All passengers, crew, and STSP members made a full recovery except for the other murdered passenger daughter, which died in the hospital the day after. Dmytro was transported by armed guards to a hospital were he underwent treatment for the two wounds on his legs. Speaking 15 minutes after the raid Vladyslava remarked in a press conference that the authorities had acted with incredible precision, and efficiency. Similar remarks were held on the ground as officials recorded the raid to aid in further training and operations of authorities in Vinalia.

Aftermath

As a result of the damage to the aircraft, the A300 was written off by Vinalian Airlines. The demands of the hijackers, led to Vinalian authorities launching investigations and searches of former SVPC members both in jail and outside, several raids were launched into Andrij Ihnatenko cell and house, which determined he had not been in contact nor involved with the hijacking. Some SVPC members were accused of being involved in the hijacking from jail, but investigations revealed that they had not been informed of any such plans or ideas by what remained of the SVPC. What remained of the SVPC was dismantled during 1994, with upwards of 30 arrests and warrants issued all over the country, by the end of 1994 the SVPC was no longer a functional organization. Dmytro Illich the only survivor of the group was charged on the 19th of August 1994, with counts of Terrorism, aircraft hijacking, two counts of Murder, and 204 counts of unlawful detention, and possession of unlicensed weapons. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison without the option of parole, this was reduced from a life sentence do to Dmytro's cooperation with the investigation.

People's Guard operating as riot control, in a protest in Catherinsk 2012

Following the events of Flight 3757, numerous legislation was introduced and reforms implemented to close and resolve issues that had resulted from the hijacking. Personal security for high ranking government officials and their families was introduced, and the Vinalian Personal Protection Agency was established under the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the personal protection of the President, Minister-President, and presidents of the Constituent states and their families. Legislation was introduced to also expand the role and training of the STSP, which was to become the main counter-terrorism unit in the country, outside of the military. Programs to train and better equip local police were introduced and street officers received training and instructions in various areas including Active_shooter_training, which greatly expanded the levels and capacity of Vinalian Police. Many legislators feared the threat of increasing militarized police, which might invoke the wrong image on the young republic, instead legislation was introduced which moved these responsibilities to a new unit called the People's Guard, which would remain at the provincial governors discretion of deployment while also serving as a component of the military. This decision allowed the People's Guard to take a unique role in policing as local units were reduced in duties and responsibilities and federal police such as the STSP settled into specific roles and missions, allowing the People's Guard to be specialized to fill a provinces law enforcement needs. The People's Guard has come to be utilized as a Gendarmerie in some instances while serving important roles such as riot control, hostage situations, among other duties.

Passengers and crew

The majority of the passengers and crew were Vinalians, although a sizeable portion of international travelers were aboard the plane, most prominently from neighboring Chistovodia, and Soravia, two linguistically, culturally, and economically close countries to Vinalia. A multinational television crew had travelled to Vinalia to report on the inauguration of Vladyslava, but had remained in the country afterwards also recording a Gaullican documentary on Vinalia and its peace process, they had been set to leave from Morechia earlier, but passport issues forced them to board flight 3757, the crew consisted of 4 Satucines 2 Gaullicans, and 1 Cassien. Among other groups included the 2 Eldmarkian passengers, aid workers which had arrived to Vinalia to aid in an Eldmarkian government initiative to provide Malaria prevention training to local communities, these 2 passengers later reprised roles as themselves in the film version of the hijacking. The Lavanan passenger Keanu Somphonpadee, a medical student in Morechia University later wrote a book on his experiences, and later ran for the Lavanan Congress serving in it from the year 2000 until 2018. Captain Feodosij Arturovych continued flying for Vinalian Airlines retiring in 2018 at the age of 67, co-pilot Ruslan Tymoshenko continued flying in Vinalian Airlines as well until 2011 and retired soon after, flight engineer Kristijan Galjani retired from flying, and became a Motivational speaker.

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Vinalia	136	11	147
Chistovodia	32	1	33
Soravia	13	-	13
Kirenia	4	-	4
Satucin	4	-	4
Cassier	3	-	3
Gaullica	3	-	3
Dezevau	2	-	2
Eldmark	2	-	2
Lavana	1	-	1
Total	200	12	212

Hijackers

The group was lead by 39 year old Bohdan Ruslanovych, a former pilot in the South Vinalian airforce, having just retired in 1987. Bohdan had spent time as a prisoner of war in North Vinalia after his A89 helicopter was shot down in 1987 during the 12 Day War, he was quoted on a southern paper in 1989, describing his experiences in a war camp near the border, where he was held for close to 2 weeks. He worked as a construction worker until he started working in security for arms traffickers, from which he earned a sizeable living. He had considered abandoning the SVPC as early as 1991, but following the death of his wife in 1992, he became more involved in the organization until he was described as fanatical by colleagues including Dmytro.

Most of the group consisted of former veterans, and were members of the Vinalian working class. Most of them had contacted one another through military channels, as a result of this information, large investigations were launched into the army which aided in the dissolving the intelligence operations of remaining SVPC assets, but no arrests were made. Thanks to Dmytro large profiles were made on the hijackers, but came out with little results. Experts in the end stated that there was nothing special about the hijackers and the only trait the majority shared in common was being veterans, and being from the South. Dmytro himself stated he was not an active follower of the Episemialist church, and Denys himself was a second generation citizen of Ravnian-Vedmedi descent. Such profiles were inconclusive to the police forces who recommended stronger checks and security as the solution rather than targeted policy to dissuade other groups including SVPC cells from conducting terrorist attacks.

In popular culture

The events of the hijacking and latter raid have been featured on a variety of works of fiction and nonfiction, primarily in Vinalian media although the hijacking has been featured on media outside of the country.

• The 1999 song by Vinalian Indie rock band Solana, "Terror" tells the story of Guitarist band member Elena Kameno, who was a hostage during the hijacking.

• The 2009 song by Vinalian Heavy metal band Troskana, "Flight 3757" tells of the events of the hijacking. In 2010 the STSP provided a recreation of the event for the filming of the music video of the song.

• The events of the raid were turned into a movie in 2003, Vinalian Airlines Flight 3757, found critical success and has been praised for its key interpretation of events. The movie was filmed on a €8.9 million budget, and made a box office return of €14.5 million, primarily in Vinalia, although the movie had a wider international release, but failed to attract attention.
  

• The Vinalian film зламана стріла (Broken Arrow) from 2015 showcases scenes from the raid in a voice over of events leading into the Cyberpunk setting of a police state Vinalia in the year 2050. The hijackings are used to explain the establishment of the highly trained Arrow Division which uses time travel to prevent crimes, and maintain the police state of Vinalia. The film makes another nod to the hijacking as the main protagonist of the film, the Human-Cyborg A-14 was made on the 3rd of July, 2057, or 3/7/57.