

Neerja Bhanot, the braveheart flight attendant was never run away from a crisis
Neerja Bhanot, a Rajesh Khanna fan, found herself daydreaming about scenarios in which she played a role. In one such hypothetical situation, she asked her mother to recommend a plan of action in the event of a hijacking.
Her mother told her, “Agar aisa kuch hua toh bhaag jaana (If something like this ever happens, escape).”
To which a confident Neerja replied, “Mummy, tumhari jaisi maa hongi toh desh ka kya hoga? Mar jayungi lekin bhagungi nahin” (If all mothers think like you, then what will happen to the country? I’d rather die than run away).”

On September 5, 1986, Bhanot died while protecting passengers on Pan Am Flight 73, which had been hijacked during a stopover in Karachi.
But the ‘Heroine of the Hijack’ had already been through a lot.
She was the darling of her family, which included two brothers, and was born on September 7, 1963, in Chandigarh to Harish and Rama Bhanot. She studied in Chandigarh before moving to Mumbai, where she became a model, endorsing brands such as Binaca toothpaste, Forhans, and Godrej.
Bhanot married a marine engineer at the age of 19 and moved to Sharjah, UAE. After two months of abuse, including starvation, verbal taunts, and threats, she left her husband, returned to Mumbai, and decided to become a flight attendant.
On that fateful September day, Bhanot was named senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73, which was flying from Mumbai to the United States.
During a stopover in Karachi, four armed Palestinian men from the Abu Nidal Organization hijacked the plane, which was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. Bhanot quickly alerted the cockpit crew by using hijack code, allowing American pilots to escape and, as a result, ground the plane.
The enraged hijackers demanded that she collect the passports of the passengers. Bhanot and her crew hid the passports under the seats and in the trash chute after determining that the hijacker’s primary targets were Americans.

Her calming presence is also said to have kept the passengers’ and crew members’ anxieties under control for 17 hours as she served sandwiches and beverages and tried to boost morale, even as terrorists killed a passenger and threw him out of the plane.
When the hijackers decided enough was enough and opened fire, Bhanot worked quickly to evacuate as many passengers as she could through the emergency exit. She was killed while protecting three American children from terrorists.
Because of Bhanot’s foresight, 42 of the 44 Americans on board were saved. The survivors of the attack gave her the title of “Heroine of the Hijack.”
Bhanot’s legacy
Bhanot’s calm courage and quick instincts earned him a slew of posthumous awards, including India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra. She was the award’s first female and youngest recipient. According to her citation, “her loyalties to the passengers of the aircraft in distress will forever be a lasting tribute to the finest qualities of the human spirit.”

Her story continues to inspire young women, and Bhanot’s family used Pan Am funds to establish the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust in her honor. The trust honors Indian women who have overcome social injustice and airline crew members who go above and beyond in a crisis.
Among other honors, Pakistan bestowed the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat award on Bhanot, and the Indian Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor in 2004.
Ram Madhvani directed a biopic starring Sonam Kapoor as Neerja in 2016. The biopic is a stylized thriller with a few touching glimpses into Bhanot’s personal life, particularly her relationship with her mother (Shabana Azmi). The film also received a number of honors, including the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Kipekee, the world's only spotless giraffe, was born at Brights Zoo
The world's only spotless giraffe was born at a zoo in the United States. The giraffe born without spots on July 31 is the only one of her kind on Earth.

Missing Masterpiece Discovered in the Background of ‘Stuart Little’
In 2009, Gergely Barki, an art historian, was watching the film Stuart Little (1999) when he spotted an original long-lost painting used as a prop. Called Sleeping Lady with Black Vase, this painting was the work of Hungarian avant-garde painter Róbert Berény. The painting had been considered lost after World War II.

A flight attendant uses a secret note to save a teen girl from sex trafficking
The flight attendant Shelia Fredrick. She spotted a distressed girl with an older man. She left a note in the restroom on which the victim wrote that she needed some help. The girl was rescued from a human trafficker after the authorities were informed.

Timothy Ray Brown, who inspired millions of HIV-positive people, died of leukemia
Timothy Ray Brown, also known as "The Berlin Patient," was the first person to be HIV-free. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006 and had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 as part of his treatment. The transplant helped him overcome the otherwise incurable disease thanks to the rare, HIV-resistant donor.

How hero parrot saved little girl who was choking on her breakfast
In 2008 Quaker parrot Willie alerted his owner Megan Howard when the little girl she was babysitting began to choke. Howard was in the bathroom when the parrot repeatedly yelled "Mama! Baby!" flapping his wings. Megan rushed and performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving her life. Willie received the Red Cross Animal Lifesaver Award.

Smart guy brings life-sized cutout of his late mother to his graduation
Even though that his mother passed away in 2016, a young man had a clever idea to make a life-size cutout of her and bring it to the event so that she could attend his graduation ceremony.

The Crystal Maiden of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave
Located in Belize, there is a cave where the remnants of ancient Maya human sacrifices can be witnessed. However, reaching the back of the cave system requires swimming, wading through a cave river, and crawling through narrow, uneven rocky passages in darkness. Once there, visitors can walk among the numerous corpses of sacrifice victims, including The Crystal Maiden, an 18-year-old whose skeleton has become calcified to the point of sparkling.

Leo Grand: from homeless to mobile app developer
In 2013, A young programmer offered a homeless man the choice between $100 cash or coding lessons. Leo Grand chose the lessons, and his first mobile app was “Trees for Cars," which helps drivers find carpooling partners.

The rescuing hug - the touching story of twins Brielle and Kyrie Jackson
Brielle and Kyrie Jackson’s lifesaving hug was captured when Brielle was struggling to breathe and going blue. As a final option, the nurse deviated from protocol and placed them in the same incubator. Kyrie wrapped her arm around her sister, who immediately began to stabilize

The Man Who Survived Falling Through a Thunderstorm, William Rankin
William Rankin was a fighter pilot who survived an ejection into a thunderstorm. He suffered frostbite, violent wind and lightning, severe decompression, and nearly drowned from breathing in rain water. He was in the cloud for over 40 minutes in total.

Frank Lentini, The Three-Legged Sideshow Performer
Francesco Lentini was a man with three legs, four feet, sixteen toes, and two sets of functional male genitals. He worked for the circus and lived to be 78 years old.

Baby Lynlee 'born twice' after life-saving tumour surgery
Baby Lynlee was "born twice." First, surgeons brought her out of the womb to remove a spinal tumor. After the successful surgery, she was placed back and born again as a healthy baby girl.

Woman survives skydiving accident, discovers she's pregnant
2005, a woman performing her first solo skydive jump survived a parachute malfunction which caused her to slam face first into a parking lot at 50 MPH. During surgery doctors discovered she was pregnant. She made a full recovery and the baby was fine.

Tourist in China left hanging from 330-ft-high glass bridge as wind blows away its panels
The popular tourist attraction glass-bottomed bridge was shattered after a strong wind blew away its panels. A Chinese tourist was left stranded in strong winds 330 feet up on a glass-bottomed bridge.

The beauty and uniqueness of Fukang Meteorite
This Fukang meteorite is around 4.5 billion years old and weighs more than 2,000 pounds. It was discovered in China in 2014 and is assumed to have formed when our solar system initially formed.

The Terrifying Mount St. Helens Eruption is Captured by the Robert Landsburg Photographs
Robert Landsburg, a photographer who upon realisation that he is going to die in the mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 lay down on top if his equipment to preserve the photographs he had taken of the events. Landsburg‘s body was found 17 days later, buried in ash with his film intact.

The accidentally discovery of Riace bronzes
Stefano Mariottini was snorkeling off the coast of Monasterace near Riace in 1972 when he noticed a human hand sticking out of the sand and called the police, thinking it was a corpse. It was actually two statues of "Warriors from Riace" - 5th century BC Greek bronze statues.

Kenyan Innovator Creates Smart Gloves That Translate Sign Language Into Audible Speech
In 2023, a Kenyan inventor Roy Allela invented smart gloves that can convert sign language movements into audio speech, for his six years old niece who was born deaf.

A little girl survived a 1-hour submersion in freezing creek water
On June 10, 1986, two-and-a-half-year-old Michelle Funk fell into an icy creek and was submerged for 66 minutes. When rescuers pulled her out of the water, she was not breathing, had no pulse, and appeared lifeless. The doctors used various techniques to rewarm her blood and bring her back to life. She was successfully resuscitated and went on to lead a healthy life.

A subway in Chongqing passes through a building (images)
A train has been constructed through an apartment complex in Chongqing, China. The 19-story residential structure is not only passed by the light rail passenger train, but it also serves as a transit stop. Apartment residents can simply get a ride from the sixth to eighth levels.

How Being Bugs Bunny Helped This Voice Actor Out of Coma
Mel Blanc; the voice of Bugs Bunny, had been in a serious car accident that put him in a coma. After many unsuccessful attempts to get him to talk, a doctor asked “Bugs, can you hear me” Mel responded in the voice of bugs bunny, “Whats up, Doc? The doctors used this to lead him out of his coma.

Oreo builds asteroid-proof bunker to protect its cookies and recipes
In October 2020, Oreo builds a concrete bunker in Svalbard, Norway, to protect their recipes in case of an asteroid impact. The vault also contains Oreos wrapped in Mylar and vials of milk powder.

Hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar turning phasing out their local money in 2015
Hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar made it one of the lowest valued currencies in the world. So the country abandoned it in 2009, and switched to using foreign money. In 2015, to complete the process of phasing out their local money, the government offered to exchange it at a rate of one US dollar for 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.

World's largest iceberg breaks off Antarctica
In 1986, the iceberg known as A23a broke away from the Antarctic coast. However, it quickly grounded in the Weddell Sea, effectively turning into an ice island.

Man Trapped in the Sahara Desert Constructs a Bike From His Broken-Down Car to Save His Life
A man who became lost in the desert disassembled his broken-down car and turned it into a functional motorcycle, which he used to escape.