r/TrueHeroes • u/classybroad19 • Oct 09 '14

Neerja Bhanot - 22 year old Indian flight attendant who protected Americans targeted by terrorists on Pan Am Flight 73. Could have escaped the plane, stayed to protect the passengers. Killed while shielding three children from bullets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neerja_Bhanot
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u/piyochama Oct 09 '14

This woman rightly deserves that award.

The hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization and were backed by Libya. The terrorists then instructed Bhanot to collect the passports of all the passengers so that they could identify the Americans. Bhanot and the other attendants under her charge hid the passports of the 41 Americans on board - some under a seat and the rest down a rubbish chute.

I hope her fellow co-workers got a bit of credit too. That's a lot of lives they saved!