<P> Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 , a Boeing 767 - 200ER , was hijacked on 23 November 1996 , en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on an Addis Ababa -- Nairobi -- Brazzaville -- Lagos -- Abidjan service , by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia . The plane crash - landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore , Comoros Islands , due to fuel exhaustion ; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board died , along with the hijackers . The official accident report stated that four of the survivors were uninjured . </P>
ethiopia flight 961 crashes in to the sea
23 November 1996