After most of the passengers had deplaned, the four men assigned by the Mongolian CIA to stage a fake hijacking, jumped up, brandished at least one firearm (others indicated there may have been more), and attacked the remaining passengers and pilot. One pilot who was let off the plane warned the leaving passengers to run and that the plane was being hijacked. Witnesses reported hijackers acting violently, injuring at least one woman, abusing the remaining pilot, tying him up.

The hijackers closed the plane door and it stayed on the tarmac for the next 90 minutes. The remaining passengers were escorted to a holding area for their safety. When the deplaning passengers made it to the holding area, word managed to leak out to the waiting families and friends that the plane had been hijacked and the free passengers were being held for security reasons. At this point someone began calling local media to report a hijacking. The hijackers aboard the plane continued to abuse the remaining passengers and made demands, including ordering the pilot to take off.

Some passengers were checked by a doctor after the ordeal. Immediately after the incident as passengers were released to the waiting crowd of family, friends, and media, many were interviewed by TV stations, including Eagle TV, about their ordeal. Multiple passengers reported that they were hijacked and scared. They reported witnessing physical abuses and that no one on board the plane or ground knew that the hijacking was an exercise. The pilots were obviously terrified, to the point that one witness said one of the pilots was unable to speak correctly.

During the hijacking, the media was trying to get a spokesperson from the airport or MIAT to clear up the confusion – was this a real hijack or an exercise? No one would speak until almost 1:30 when an official from the General Office of Civil Flight confirmed to an Eagle TV journalist by phone that the hijack was an exercise. Throughout the day as more details became known, including the name of the woman attacked, and various offices claiming responsibility, two government offices issues statements.

First, the Deputy Director of the CIA held a press conference (holding back the information from Eagle TV) declaring that the hijacking was a “planned action” and not a training exercise. The DD declared that weapons and possibly explosives were smuggled aboard the plane by their operatives and that it was “easy to hijack” a plane in Mongolia. Just before 10:00pm I received a fax from the Prime Minister’s office declaring the hijacking to be an exercise and that no normal citizens were involved. As a courtesy to the Prime Minister's office we read that state three times, without journalist's comments.

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