CAAC Flight 296
The hijacking of CAAC Flight 296, a Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E aircraft, took place on May 5, 1983. Flight 296 of China Civil Aviation Airlines (CAAC), a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Shenyang Dongta Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, was hijacked by six Chinese nationals and was forced to land at Camp Page, a US military base in Chuncheon, South Korea.
A CAAC Hawker Siddeley Trident, similar to the one involved | |
| Hijacking | |
|---|---|
| Date | 5 May 1983 |
| Summary | Domestic Chinese passenger flight hijacked to South Korea |
| Site | Camp Page, South Korea |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E |
| Operator | CAAC Airlines |
| Registration | B-296 |
| Flight origin | Shenyang Dongta Airport |
| Destination | Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport |
| Passengers | 105 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 2 |
| Survivors | 114 (all) |
At the time of the incident, China and South Korea did not have diplomatic relations. The incident contributed to the first official non-adversarial contact between China and South Korea before the establishment of diplomatic relations, which was a turning point in the relationship between the two sides. In the following series of incidents, the mutual hostility between China and South Korea in the process of handling or reporting began to fade, and the goodwill component increased greatly, laying a foundation for the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in the future.