THE LAWLESS SPIRITUALS
It was 0300 hours on 24th May 1992 when the phone rang. I reached for the phone, cursing, and cut the line. It rang again, seemingly more frantic and persistent than the last. Cussing up under my breadth, I picked up.
“Hello, may I speak with Capt Chira Fernando please? It’s very very urgent!” The chairman of Air Lanka, Mr Dunstan Jayawardene’s urgent voice rose from the other side.
We immediately sensed that it was some bad news.
“Chira, we have a problem. The chartered flight to Nagoya has turned back… because of some unruly passengers”. The normally cool Chairman sounded rather agitated as he gave the details. “Can you come over to BIA right now?”
The Air Lanka L1011 Tristar Registration 4R-ULB was an all Economy-class chartered flight, carrying Shoko Asahara, the leader of The Aum Shinrikyo, or ‘Aum Supreme Truth’ cult and his entourage from Colombo to Nagoya. Shoko Asahara and his bodyguards were seated in the First-Class cabin while the rest of his party sat in the back.
The aircraft was flying over the Bay of Bengal and the Cabin Crew were preparing for the meal service. Since it was a chartered flight, only Economy Class meals were loaded onboard. When the meal service commenced, Asahara was served first as he was the leader of the group.
No sooner the meals were served to Asahara and his escorts, a major outrage erupted in the First-Class cabin. Asahara’s escorts demanded to know why they were not served ‘First-class’ meals, and why a dead-heading cabin crew member was seated in the First Class with them. Efforts to convince the group that they were not entitled to a First-class meal, although they were seated in the First-class cabin on a chartered all-economy class flight, was to no avail. The group began shouting viciously surrounding the Chief Purser.
In the meantime, the Flight Deck was alerted of the situation in the cabin. The Chief Purser requested Capt. Dave Hawks to speak with Asahara, who was seated in the aisle seat of the first row , port side of the first class cabin. Hawkes went to shake hands with Asahara but was instantly told not to touch him since he was very holy!
Hawks spoke to Asahara, and as he did so, members Asahara’s group came up the starboard aisle and through the galley area to crowd between him and the flight deck. Another group crowded in the port aisle behind him. The mobs were pushing him from both sides and refusing to let him get back to the flight deck!
The Chief Purser could see what was happening. He picked up the intercom phone, dialed the flight deck and handed Hawkes the phone over the heads of the mob. Hawkes spoke to Errol Cramer the First Officer, and told him the situation in the cabin. He instructed Cramer to bolt the flight deck door and call Colombo, get permission to return to Katunayake and have the flight met by security officials.
Cramer reversed course back to Sri Lanka.
Running out of patience, they began to assault Hawkes. They continued to maintain that they were well within their rights and authority to demand First-class service. By this time the group leader Shoko Asahara decided he was not so holy as his followers imagined, and left his seat to come and shake hands with Hawkes and assure him that they could sort out any misunderstandings, before reaching Nagoya.
Hawkes proceeded to explain that they were returning to Colombo, and what he and his followers had done was unlawful and that the flight would be met by police on arrival. Asahara was apologetic and allowed Hawks to return to the flight deck.
“I was concerned about the safety of the cabin crew . I have never seen such naked hatred as I saw on the faces of the group who were around me. I spoke to the Chief Purser as I returned to the flight deck, asking him to make sure that all the cabin crew members were brought forward after landing so they could exit the aircraft first” said Capt Dave Hawkes.
There were no further problems until the aircraft returned to Katunayake.
Asahara soon realized that they were descending and became more violent! But the aircraft eventually returned and landed safely at BIA.
We had already set off to BIA when Chira remembered that one of our pilot students, Dharmaratne was a competent Japanese speaker, and that he lived en-route in Kandana! He promptly contacted Dharme and related the news in brief. Soon Dharme was packed into the vehicle and we were accelerating to BIA.
Although not quite sure what to expect, we hastened to the tarmac area, where the aircraft had stopped. There was a good deal of confusion on the BIA tarmac. We were dumbfounded to see clusters of robed figures seated in lotus position on the tarmac! Clearly, Asahara was refusing to budge until his ‘demands’ were met.
Just as we approached the aircraft, Asahara’s bodyguards rushed towards us, to prevent us from reaching their leader, while a stern Airport Security Officer was trying in vain to strictly enforce his text-book rules on the dissidents. Talk about a crisis of a different nature!
The Aum Shinrikyo — this religious group with mixed Buddhist and Hindu apocalyptic teachings, had arrived in the island at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. Their cause was championed in the island by the President of Sri Lanka and a prominent local politician who represented and spearheaded the Aum Shinrikyo movement in the district of Galle, South of Sri Lanka.
Having ascertained the sequence of events from the flight crew and station staff, Chira thus realized that tackling this problem required a sensitive approach. There were various dilemmas; some ethical and some hugely political. Then there was the International law pertaining to hijacking of aircraft to deal with. The airline was not willing to take any direct action for fear of a possible political backlash in Galle where the Aum Shinrikyo had a strong influence.
Chira quickly briefed Dharme of the negotiating content. Dharme managed tactfully to shore up the groups complaints by playing a supportive brotherly role thus eventually managing to get to Asahara who was still protesting vehemently. The burly cult leader looked more like a plain thug than a spiritual leader. He was morose and was reeking of bad breath.
Dharme cautioned him that what happened in the aircraft was ‘effectively’ a hijacking which was a punishable offence.
Asahara found it very difficult to agree with Dharme.
However, after almost an hour of negotiations, the crisis was finally resolved, with the Government of Sri Lanka offering Asahara an ‘honourable’ settlement if he “promised to be a good boy”.
No action will be taken against the group if they boarded the aircraft and returned to Nagoya without creating any further problems. Asahara agreed and Dharme watched in relief as the man flopped back into his seat.
The Chairman Mr. Jayawardene concurred that Chira should operate the aircraft back to Nagoya thus relieving the now stressed operating crew of their ordeal. Capt Collin Redhouse was called on stand-by to act as Chira’s Co-pilot. Chira persuaded the airline to include Dharme in the ‘General Declaration’ as he was a vital member of the negotiating team. In the meantime, Air Lanka had alerted the Japanese Police about the hijacking.
The overall ambience of the flight back to Nagoya was blessed with the ‘sound of silence’. On arrival in Nagoya, the Japanese Police reacted very strongly. They stormed the aircraft and arrested Asahara and his gang, took statements from all the crew members and finally released the aircraft to return to CMB. Another crew was positioned from Tokyo to Nagoya for the return flight.
The Air Lanka team led by Capt Chira Fernando deadheaded on the now empty aircraft to Colombo — with Dharme as the only ‘passenger’. The controversial episode was successfully hushed up. Although the saga was the most talked-about topic in the inner aviation circles, nobody discussed it openly.
It is the first hijacking of a local airliner in Sri Lanka’s Aviation History- but never recorded as such.
“..when subsequently I read about the sarin gas attack by Shoko Asahara on the underground railway in Tokyo, I realized what a serious incident it could have been that day on the flight. The Purser and the rest of the cabin crew were brilliant and I was so grateful for their help” Captain David Hawkes, Air Lanka.
Shoko Asahara [born Chizuo Matsumoto] was subsequently convicted of masterminding the deadly 1995 sarin-gas attack on the Tokyo subway, shattering Japan’s image of public safety. On July 17 2018, Japan executed him and 13 others by hanging.
This story is compiled via narrations by the crew and others involved in this incident. Fortunately, there were no social media platforms during those times! Although there were a scant few regional media representatives at the airport, everybody was pressurized into hushing up the incident after being ‘warned’ of dire consequences by the highest authorities of Sri Lanka.
