 In the ensuing chaos, Ahmed Chic Thaa and Afif Ahmed Hamid, the two kidnappers holding the helicopter pilots, were killed while the remaining gunmensome possibly already woundedscrambled to safety, returning fire from behind and beneath the helicopters, out of the snipers' line of sight, shooting out many of the airport lights.A West German policeman in the control tower, Anton Fliegerbauer, was killed by the gunfire.The helicopter pilots fled; the hostages, tied up inside the craft, could not.