Breaking news is that the plane hijacking in Mexico is over after special forces stormed the jet.
The aircraft was hijacked as it landed in the capital Mexico City from the resort of Cancun. Mexican online media reports said Aeromexico Flight 576 had 104 people on board when it left Bolivia, and made a stopover in Cancun en route to Mexico City.
+++
Update: Mark Baard at Timenauts.com points out, from CNN:
A 44-year-old Bolivian drug addict and alcoholic who describes himself as a church minister was the sole person responsible for the brief hijacking Wednesday of a commercial jetliner....The suspect — Jose Mar Flores — told authorities he hijacked the Boeing 737 jet because the date — September 9, 2009, or 9/9/9, and 666 reversed — held some significance for him, said Genaro Garcia Luna, the secretary for public safety.
++++
Intriguingly, earlier reports said up to five men were taken off the jet in handcuffs after it was stormed.
The alleged hijackers reportedly had explosives strapped to their legs and were demanding to talk to Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
They released all the passengers soon after the plane landed in Mexico City.
The passengers left with their hand luggage. They appeared calm and boarded nearby buses.
But the plane's crew were still being held hostage before special forces moved in and made the arrests.
Nobody was hurt and no shots were fired, it is understood.
Transportation and Communications Secretary Juan Molinar said all passengers and crew were safe.
But he would not say how many alleged hijackers were detained or give details of their motivation.
"Various people who participated in the act have been detained and we are investigating," he said.
He said there was no bomb on the airplane, although some passengers said one of the hijackers held a package that resembled an explosive device.
Aeromexico Flight 576 has been on the runway at the capital's international airport after the hijacking.
One of the passengers, Adriana Romero, told Mexican TV she had not realized the flight had been hijacked until the plane landed at Mexico City.
"We realized it was a hijack when we saw the police trucks," she said.
El Universal daily said the men had not been able to get inside the plane's cockpit.
The last hijacking in the region was in April in Jamaica, when an armed man took over a CanJet Boeing 737 due to fly from Montego Bay to Cuba.
All 182 people on board were rescued unharmed when Jamaican police stormed the airliner and captured the mentally troubled gunman without firing a shot.
Yep, that was the story of the day around here!
ReplyDeleteThe guy acted alone, and the "bomb" was nothing but three cans of juice that he wrapped up with tape and added some LED lights and a digital clock. He kept it in a bag.
Apparently, the motive of the hijacking was so he could talk to Calderón and warn him about an impending cataclismic earthquake, soon to hit Mexico (I assume the city).
The best part that one of the early detainees that the authorities thought were accomplices of the Bolivian wacko was a federal congressman —they should do that to all politicians IMO :-P
First flooding and then religious terrorists. Living in this city is anything but dull! ;-)
And now there's talk that this whole thing was staged by Gerardo García Luna, the Director of Federal Public Security (all the Federal police forces). There has been changes in the government now that Calderón begins the final half of his 6-years term, so some people say García Luna might have feared to lose his job, and decided to make a nice TV appearance showing how good he's at what he does.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds kind of far-fetched, but the fact is García Luna does like to appear in front of the cameras.