Prologue – By Capt Elmo Jayawardena “The Incredible Rescue” is a true story. It was written by the co-pilot of the flight Capt Shelton Goonewardeana. He is 97 years old and lives in Marawila. ‘Sinhabahu’ and ‘Terry’ in the story is him. Capt Emil Jayawardena was my father and off and on I heard this Madras story. Mr John Vethavanam was the Radio Officer (father of Capt Duleep Vethavanam.) Miss Cynthia Phillips was the flight Stewardess. In my humble opinion this really was an incredibly crazy operation planned and flown by Capt Emil and his crew. Yes, some would say they broke every rule in the book. Who am I to judge? The scales of justice at times have to be tempered with mercy and kindness and a whole lot of madness. There were 17 film people who boarded the plane on the taxiway close to the end of runway 25. ...

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