Sepala Ekanayake (or Ekanayaka; born June 3, 1949, in Karatota,

Tissamaharama Tissamaharama ( si, තිස්සමහාරාමය , ta, திஸ்ஸமஹாராம) is a town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. History It was the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Ruhuna as early as the 3 ...

, Sri Lanka) gained international notoriety after hijacking an

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

Boeing 747 with 340 passengers on June 30, 1982.

Life and career

Early life

Ekanayake attended a village school and Yodakandiya Vidyalaya in

Hambantota Hambantota ( si, හම්බන්තොට, ta, அம்பாந்தோட்டை) is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri LankaThe prominent Malays (මැලේ) most part of the population is to be partly de ...

. As a child he ran away from his father's home and stayed with the headmaster of Ananda Primary for six months. In 1972 Ekanayake moved to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. In Germany he formed a romantic relationship with an Italian woman named Anna Aldrovandi. They were married in 1977. In 1980 they relocated to

Modena, Italy Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat of ...

and had a son named Free Ekanayake. Ekanayake's Italian

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

expired some time after his son's birth and he was denied a new one by Italian authorities. They suggested instead that he return to Sri Lanka and apply for visa with the Italian Embassy in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. Ekanayake then learned that he had to wait six years before he could obtain a visa. Angry at his situation he concocted a plan to hijack an Italian plane and put forth his demands straight to the Italian government. On June 30, 1982, Ekanayake traveled to the

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

airport with some of his friends and awaited the arrival of an Alitalia Boeing 747 from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on its way to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Upon its arrival, Ekanayake obtained a rear seat on the plane.

Hijacking

Ekanayake waited until the plane reached a level of 35,000 feet and then issued his demands to the pilot in a letter. He wanted to have his wife and son brought to the

Bangkok-Don Muang International Airport Don Mueang International Airport ( th, ท่าอากาศยานดอนเมือง, , , or colloquially as , ) is one of two international airports serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, the other one being Suvarnabhumi Airpo ...

and 300,000

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s. He also instructed that the plane was to land at the Bangkok airport, leave the doors closed, issue the demands to the Italian authorities, and communicate only through

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

. If his orders were not followed Ekanayake would blow up the plane with the "most sophisticated bombs manufactured in Italy." The chief pilot George Amarosa immediately dropped to 25,000 feet and headed to Bangkok. In a few hours Anna, Free and the ransom were on the way to the city. In 30 hours the transaction was completed and Ekanayake released the passengers of the plane. He now had to figure out where he would go with the money and his family.

Aftermath

The Sri Lankan ambassador in Bangkok Manel Abeysekera assured Ekanayake that he could return to Sri Lanka without any fear. Later, she denied that she had made this statement. Ekanayake reluctantly did and the Italian government demanded that he be handed over to them. Public opinion in Sri Lanka opposed this move; some in Sri Lanka even deemed Ekanayake a hero. Eventually he was arrested in

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

and sent to

Welikada Prison The Welikada Prison (also known as the ''Magazine Prison'') is a maximum security prison and the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Cameron. The prison covers an area of . It is ove ...

. Sri Lanka would try him in their courts. Anna and Free returned safely . Ekanayake was involved in the 1983 Prison Massacre of Tamil inmates in Sri Lanka and several then inmates of the Welikada Prison including Prof Nithyanandan have confirmed the involvement of Ekanayake in this incident on several occasions.

References

*
First Sri Lankan to Hijack an Aircraft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekanayake, Sepala 1949 births Living people Sri Lankan prisoners and detainees Sri Lankan criminals Prisoners and detainees of Sri Lanka Hijackers Sri Lankan emigrants to Italy Sri Lankan emigrants to Germany