Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici explains why he believed he had no choice but to opt for Egyptian commandos who stormed a hijacked aircraft in Malta 30 years ago, with disastrous consequences.

Since Malta had good relations with the Arab world at the time, Dr Mifsud Bonnici says he did not want the Americans to be directly involved in rescuing the passengers on board the Egyptair aircraft and he turned down any British or  German help, even if he admitted they would have been "more efficient".

But he insists it was the Americans who actually suggested the Egyptians to storm the plane, especially since they had trained them, though he admits the result was catastrophic.

This evening's edition of Times Talk will discuss the 30th anniversary of the bloodiest hijack in aviation history, preceding the September 11 attacks.

On November 23, 1985, an Egyptair flight took off on its Athens-to-Cairo route. Twenty minutes after take-off, three Palestinian terrorists hijacked the aircraft and diverted it to Malta. Following hours of tension on the ground, including the indiscriminate shooting of passengers, the aircraft was stormed, resulting in dozens of deaths.

This evening's edition will also include a live phone in with Jackie Pflug, the American hostage who was shot in the head... and survived.

Presented by Herman Grech and Mark Micallef, Times Talk is aired on TVM at 10.05pm, with a repeat on TVM2 tomorrow at 1.30pm.

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