(Credits: Netflix)

True stories are among Netflix‘s most reliable sources of original content, with the new series IC 814 based on the incredible ordeal of those aboard a plane hijacked in December 1999.

The six-episode exclusive dives into the seven-day ordeal that dominated the headlines in India and beyond, with the incident remaining the longest aircraft seizure in the history of the country’s aviation industry, covering the story from several different crucial perspectives.

IC 814 digs into the machinations that drove not only the hijackers but also the terrified passengers on board the plane and the politicians in the nation’s halls of power seeking to resolve the situation when five masked men took over the titular aircraft 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport en route to New Delhi.

Pilot Devi Sharan was forced to fly into Pakistani airspace without clearance to land before it touched down with barely any fuel left. The hijackers intimated they’d kill hostages if they weren’t refuelled, with the plane taking off once again, heading to Lahore and then onto Dubai, where refuelling requests were repeatedly denied.

After finally touching down in the United Arab Emirates, 27 of the 176 passengers on board were freed, including Rupin Katyal; the only fatality who’d been murdered by the perpetrators. The end goal was to seek refuge in Afghanistan, which was achieved when the plane landed in Taliban-controlled Kandahar.

For the next six days, the hostages were on tenterhooks as the Indian government negotiated with the hijackers, who wanted 36 prisoners released in exchange. Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were named as the culprits, with Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir the quintet responsible.

Eventually, an agreement was reached that saw the remaining hostages released in exchange for three imprisoned terrorists, all three of whom have since been implicated in attacks that created significant loss of life. The Indian authorities assumed that Taliban officials would apprehend and arrest the hijackers after their demands had been met, but they were instead driven across the border towards Pakistan.

Understandably, the sitting government came under heavy criticism for the way the situation was handled from beginning to end, with just as much scorn coming from the families of the hostages as from within the country’s political sphere.

With IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack now streaming on Netflix, subscribers around the world will be able to immerse themselves in an astonishing moment in history, one that reverberated far beyond India’s borders.