Hero Neerja Bhanot
One woman, Neerja Bhanot, perished in the gunfire. She was shot in the back while she protected a group of three young children from the bullets. The head flight attendant was posthumously given the Ashok Chakra Award, which is India's highest peacetime award for bravery. She was also responsible for alerting the pilot crew to escape in the beginning.
The Great Escape
During the excitement of the shooting, one passenger, Dick Melhart, was able to unlatch one of the doors. The slide did not deploy, but this didn't stop several passengers from jumping down, about 20 feet to land. Another passenger at the front of the plane opened a door that did deploy the slide, and those who used this method were able to escape without injury.