IC-814 survivor Pooja Kataria relives hijacking horror: ‘People had panic attacks, no food’ | Trending

Pooja Kataria, a passenger on the IC-814 flight that was hijacked in 1999, cannot understand the outrage generated the Netflix show based on the incident. Kataria relived the horror of the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in conversation with ANI, recalling how passengers had panic attacks, received no food and were told to convert to Islam. Pooja Kataria is one of the survivors of Indian Airlines Flight 814 that was hijacked in 1999.(X/@ANI) Still, the hijacking survivor says the Netflix show should be taken for what it is – a series created for the purpose of entertainment. Speaking to ANI, Kataria said, “We were returning from Nepal when the plane got hijacked. There were 176 passengers on the flight. Just half an hour after the flight took off, it was hijacked. “There were 5 hijackers in the plane. We were all scared and didn’t have any idea about our whereabouts. We were given nothing to eat, except a small apple on a day,” Kataria recalled. Watch the video below: Controversy over IC-814‘IC-814 – The Kandahar Hijack’ is a limited series Anubhav Sinha, based on the real event, that recently released on Netflix. The makers of the series have received massive backlash for allegedly changing the names of the hijackers to ‘Shankar’ and ‘Bhola.’ Shankar and Bhola were code names adopted the hijackers. Pooja Kataria, one of the passengers on the fateful Indian Airlines Flight 814, says she can’t understand the outrage. “I don’t know why people are making a controversy around the series. The series is based on a real event and the names of the hijackers used in the series are also factual,” Kataria told news agency ANI. “Bhola, Shankar were their names.. They might be code names but that’s what they called each other. We heard them,” said Kataria. She further said, “One of the hijackers who was called Burger celebrated my birthday on the hijacked plane and also gifted me his shawl on that day. Another hijacker who identified himself as Doctor used to give speeches on Islam on the plane and seemed to be an intelligent individual.” Trending on Google There has been renewed interest in the 1999 hijacking case since the release of the Netflix series on August 29 and the ensuing controversy over the name of the hijackers. In the last 48 hours, “IC 814 Kandahar hijacking Netflix” has seen a search volume of over 2 lakh on Google Trends. The trend for IC 814 started rising on August 28 and peaked on September 3. (with inputs from ANI)