FA Neerja Bhanot Story "Out of the three children, who were saved by Neerja, one, who was 7-year-old at that time, is now a captain of a major airlines and Neerja is her inspiration!" Neerja Bhanot was an Indian model and purser for the airline who gave her life saving passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 which was hijacked by terrorists during a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan. On the morning of September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 landed in Karachi. It had arrived from Mumbai and would have departed fo