In 1973, two men pretending to be Colombian guerrillas took a plane and flew across Latin America for 60 hours. It was the longest hijacking of an aircraft in the region.

The SAM Airlines plane stopped in countries that included Aruba, Peru, and Paraguay, making its last landing in Argentina, where local authorities were surprised to see the hijackers had vanished.

Former flight attendant Edilma Perez was one of the employees who volunteered to relieve the original crew on the second day of the hijacking. She tells Stefania Gozzer why she made such a risky decision.

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(Photo: An air hostess carries food aboard the hijacked Colombian SAM plane during a refuelling stop in Lima. Credit: AP)

The longest plane hijacking in Latin America

Witness History