Malaysian Airline System Flight 653

Malaysian Airline System Flight 653

A Malaysian Airline System Boeing 737-200 registered as 9M-MBH, similar to the aircraft involved in the incident.
Hijacking
Date	4 December 1977
Summary	Hijacking by Japanese Red Army
Site	Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia 1°23′19″N 103°31′53″E / 1.3887°N 103.5314°E / 1.3887; 103.5314
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-2H6
Operator	Malaysian Airline System
Registration	9M-MBD
Flight origin	Penang International Airport
Last stopover	Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport
Destination	Singapore Int'l Airport (Paya Lebar)
Occupants	100
Passengers	93
Crew	7
Fatalities	100
Survivors	0

Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 (MH653) was a scheduled domestic flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, operated by Malaysian Airline System (MAS). On the evening of 4 December 1977, the Boeing 737-200 aircraft flying the service crashed at Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, while purportedly being diverted by hijackers to Singapore.^[1] It was the first fatal air crash for Malaysia Airlines^[2][3] (as the airline is now known), with all 93 passengers and 7 crew killed.^[4][5] It is also the deadliest aviation disaster to occur on Malaysian soil.^[6] The flight was apparently hijacked as soon as it reached cruise altitude. The circumstances in which the hijacking and subsequent crash occurred remain unsolved.