Ambassador's Flight Hijacked

1972 Fletcher Graduate Has Experience Surviving Tough Situations

Aden, Yemen [01.23.01] -- Early this morning, a flight carrying Barbara Bodine, US Ambassador to Yemen, and 90 other passengers was hijacked mid-flight, the Associated Press reported. Bodine -- a 1971 graduate of Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, escaped the plane safely, marking the second time in her career that she's come face-to-face with life-threatening circumstance.

   "Shots were fired on board the craft, but all 91 passengers were reported safe after the plane was diverted to the African nation Djibouti, where the hijacking appears to have ended without further incident," ABC News reported.

   Bodine -- who oversaw the logistics of the USS Cole investigation by the US -- was en-route to the Yemeni city of Taiz to meet with the country's president.

   The Tufts alum is accustomed to the stress and dangers of international diplomacy.

   In 1999, she negotiated for hours to release three Americans kidnapped in Yemen. More recently, Bodine has been rebuilding the relationship between the US and Yemen.

   "Bodine, who served as No. 2 at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait during the Gulf War, worked on the negotiating team that eventually found a way for the Americans to participate actively in the [USS Cole] probe despite Yemeni sovereignty concerns," the Associated Press reported.

   She also survived a 110-day siege of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait by Iraqi soldiers at the start of the Gulf War. One of the last to leave the country before the bombing began, Bodine stayed behind with no supplies until all of the American citizens who wished to leave had done so, reported ABC News.