10 Infamously Chilling Deaths And Disappearences
7. Vanishing 727: Ben Padilla, John Mutantu
On May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727 took off from Luanda Airport, Angola, never to be seen again. The only known passengers were mechanic Ben Padilla and his assistant John Mutantu.
The men had been working for a Florida-based company to restore the 200,000 pound aircraft to flight-ready status; however, neither of them could fly the plane, which required a crew of at least three. According to the control tower, around six-o’clock P.M. the plane began manoeuvring erratically towards the runway. Despite the pleas from flight controllers, it rumbled down the runway and disappeared into the sky.
This being only two years after the September 11th attacks, the FBI, CIA, and NSA went into overdrive. They tried frantically to locate the plane, but never found any answers, not so much as an oil slick or debris field. After an intense investigation the FBI concluded that neither Padilla nor Mutantu were involved in the theft, and the plane was most likely hijacked.
For what purpose, and to what fate the hijackers and victims befell, we may never know.