The dramatic escape of the Russian crew 378 days in the hands of the Taliban

After 378 days of being held captive by the Taliban, all 7 crew members of the Russian Il-76 transport plane made a spectacular escape on their own plane.

Il-76 aircraft, registration number RA-76842 of Kazan Airlines, Russia, April 1995 before being captured by the Taliban. Photo: Aerostan.

On August 3, 1995, the Il-76 transport plane with registration number RA-76842 of Kazan Airlines, Russia was controlled by a Mig-21 fighter jet of the Taliban and forced to land at Kandahar airport, while being hired by the Afghan government to transport weapons for the country's army, according to Sputnik.

The Taliban later accused the Il-76 crew of interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs, holding them for 378 days and nights in extremely harsh conditions. The Taliban said they would only release the crew if Russia returned its prisoners. However, the Kremlin refused at the time, insisting it was not holding any Afghans.

After many unsuccessful negotiations, Taliban members even asked the Il-76 crew to convert to Islam with the "winged" promise of a beautiful life in Afghanistan, but to no avail.

The failure of government negotiations left the Il-76 crew extremely frustrated and forced to plan their own escape from Kandahar using their own aircraft.

First, the crew convinced the Taliban that the plane was valuable and required regular maintenance. They presented evidence that the plane's landing gear had suffered serious problems that had made a recent landing at Kandahar airport difficult.

The Taliban, who had just declared the establishment of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan, were in a period of equipment shortages. Desperate to own another heavy transport aircraft like the Il-76, they agreed to allow the crew to inspect the plane once a month, with six guards guarding it at each inspection.

On August 16, 1996, taking advantage of the time when three Taliban guards were performing prayers on a Muslim holiday, the Il-76 crew boarded the plane and easily neutralized the remaining three soldiers, taking off the plane to carry out the escape.

As soon as the incident was discovered, Kandahar airport air traffic control quickly ordered fighter jets to chase after it, fortunately the only Taliban pilot was not at the airport at that time. Afterwards, airport guards tried to stop the Il-76 from taking off with a fire truck but failed.

To avoid being chased, the Il-76 crew decided not to fly the plane back to Russia but to fly to the Iranian border and then across the Persian Gulf to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Having been fully fueled for a previous round trip, the Il-76 had no problems on its escape journey. In particular, the aircraft flew over Afghanistan and Iran at very low altitudes without turning on its communication signal to avoid being detected by air defense systems.

The Il-76 finally landed at the UAE airport on the afternoon of August 16, 1996, and then returned safely to Russia.

On August 22, 1996, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decision to award the Il-76 captain and co-pilot the title "Hero of Russia". The remaining crew members were awarded the "Order of Courage".

In 2004, the aircraft was transferred to the airline Aviacon Tzitotrans in Yekaterinburg. Since then, the Il-76 has often flown on UN humanitarian missions.

According to VNE