The Italian Cruise Ship Mysterious Hijacking

On Monday, October 7, 1985, an Italian cruise ship named Achille Lauro docked at Alexandria Port in Egypt. It was the fifth day of the cruise that had begun from Genoa, Italy. The ship carried a total of 748 passengers and 450 crew members. At Alexandria, 651 passengers disembarked to board buses headed toward the Pyramids of Giza.

After the tourists left, the captain took the ship out of Alexandria port with the remaining 97 passengers and set sail 225 kilometers west toward Egypt’s Port Said. The plan was that after about 14 hours, the tourists would rejoin the cruise ship from there. Everything up to this point had gone as planned.

However, trouble began afterward.

The group of tourists returned from their trip at around 10:30 PM that night, expecting to find the Achille Lauro docked and ready to board. But the ship was nowhere to be seen. Initially, they were told that the ship had been delayed due to Suez Canal traffic. After waiting for three hours, they were told the shocking truth: the Achille Lauro had been hijacked.

Among the 97 passengers still aboard, there were a few hijackers who had smuggled weapons—possibly hidden in fuel tanks. Right after leaving Alexandria, they had gone to their rooms and started drying their weapons with hairdryers. A waiter accidentally walked into the room while serving fruit, discovering their cache.

The hijackers likely did not plan to hijack the ship so early, but once they were discovered, they had no choice. They stormed the dining hall and began taking passengers hostage. No one yet knew who they were or what their motives were.

When a hostess asked one of the hijackers who they were, he claimed to be Norwegian. But before they could reach the radio room, a quick-thinking operator had already sent a distress signal, which was received by a Swedish radio station.

Unaware of this, the hijackers reached the radio room, took control, and cut off the ship's communication system. One of the hijackers demanded the captain come to the bridge. When the captain arrived, he was greeted with machine gun fire.

They ordered the ship to head toward Port Tartus, Syria, about 500 kilometers away. That’s when the captain realized they could not be Norwegians as they claimed. The hijackers told the captain to keep the crew performing normal duties but to stay away from the hostages.

By the evening of October 7, hostages and the crew were unsure what was happening. The hijackers ordered everyone to sleep on the floor. Meanwhile, the SOS message that had been sent earlier sparked international panic. Italy activated its crisis management team. When they learned that American nationals were among the passengers, the U.S. also became involved.

This hijacking affected three nations: Egypt (where it occurred), Italy (the ship’s country), and the U.S. (due to its citizens on board). While the U.S. saw this as a terrorist attack and refused to negotiate, Italy preferred diplomacy to avoid damaging its standing in the Mediterranean.

The U.S. pressured nearby nations not to allow the ship to dock. By the morning of October 8, the Achille Lauro had reached Syrian waters. The captain requested permission to dock, but Syrian authorities refused.

The hijackers then began separating hostages by nationality, seemingly searching for Americans and Jews. They identified 20 passengers, including an elderly couple—Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old wheelchair user, and his wife, Marilyn. The hijackers tried to move Leon to the upper deck, but he physically couldn’t make it. His wife protested but was silenced at gunpoint.

Furious, Leon began cursing the hijackers, and in an act of brutality, they shot him and threw his body overboard.

With no permission to dock in Syria and their cover blown, the hijackers made their demands over radio. Their leader, Youssef Majed al-Molqi, declared that they were from the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and demanded Israel release 50 Palestinian prisoners or they would begin killing Jewish passengers.

The crisis now involved Syria, Israel, and Palestine. As the 3:00 PM deadline approached, no demands were met, and no negotiation team arrived. The hijackers claimed they had already killed an American passenger (Leon) and would kill another soon. Still, no one yielded.

The hijackers then ordered the captain to sail toward Cyprus. Meanwhile, rumors of the American passenger’s murder spread, but confirmation was still missing.

Italy contacted Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to verify whether the PLF was involved. Arafat not only condemned the hijacking but also sent a negotiation team to Egypt, including PLF leader Abu Abbas.

Abbas contacted the hijackers and urged them to return the ship to Egypt’s Port Said. The hijackers agreed, and the ship sailed back to Egypt. Upon arrival, Abbas apologized to the captain and spoke privately with the hijackers. Italy and Egypt now sought to resolve the situation peacefully, avoiding U.S. military intervention.

Despite U.S. protests, negotiations continued. Italy and Egypt agreed to let the hijackers go in exchange for the safe return of the hostages. On October 9, the captain publicly confirmed that all passengers and crew were safe.

A civilian plane was arranged to fly the four hijackers from Egypt to Tunisia. But the U.S. had other plans. Their F-14 fighter jets intercepted the plane mid-air over the Mediterranean. They forced it to land at Sigonella, a NATO base in Sicily.

Italy was surprised by this unilateral U.S. move. Tension escalated between U.S. and Italian troops, both aiming to take custody of the hijackers. After hours of negotiation, Washington ordered American soldiers to stand down, allowing Italy to arrest the hijackers on the condition that they would be tried and sentenced.

One unexpected passenger on the plane was Abu Abbas, suspected of orchestrating the hijacking. But due to lack of evidence, Italy released him, though the four hijackers were put on trial.

Leon Klinghoffer’s body, discovered on October 13, was eventually repatriated. The main hijacker received a 30-year prison sentence, while the others received 15–25 years.

It was later discovered that the hijackers' original plan was not just to hijack the ship, but to use it in a coordinated attack, possibly in retaliation for Israeli operations. The Achille Lauro hijacking became a symbol of how global terrorism, diplomacy, and international law collide in complex and tragic ways.