Mexico City – An American man kidnapped a small plane in Belize on Thursday, stabbing two passengers and a pilot, before one of the stabbed passengers triggered him fatally, said officials from Belize and the United States said. The plane then landed safely.
The tropic air plane transported 14 passengers and two crew members, and flew from Corozal, a small town near the Belize border with Mexico, addressing the popular tourist destination of San Pedro when he was kidnapped.
The plane turned in random directions for almost two hours as the drama was developed in the heavens. The plane was placed by a police helicopter before landing at an airport in the coastal city of Ladyville.
Belize authorities declared a complete emergency immediately after the incident began, around 8:30 am local time, according to a statement from the Belize airport granting company.
“Given the incomprehensible pressure, our pilot acted with extraordinary courage and calm, guiding the plane to a safe landing. His actions were nothing less heroic,” said Maximillian Greif, CEO of the airline.
The two injured passengers and pilots were treated in a hospital for their wounds, authorities said.
The spokesman for the United States Department, Tammy Bruce, said at an informative news conference in Washington that officials were still collecting information about what happened.
“Horrible,” he said. “We are grateful, I think we are all, that it did not become an event of mass victims with more than a dozen people on the plane. We clearly know some details. We do not know much more.”
Chester Williams, Belize police commissioner, identified the kidnapper as Akinyela Taylor and said he was a US veteran. American officials could not confirm the statement of the Belize police commissioner that Taylor was a veteran military.
One of the stabbed passengers managed to shoot Taylor, who was killed, said Williams, added that the passenger had a license to wear a firearm and then handed his weapon to the police. The passenger was stabbed on his back and suffered a puncture in his lungs, said Williams. He remains in a critical condition.
“We are praying for him,” Williams told reporters. “He is our hero.”
A Tropic Air official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists, identified the member of the injured crew Howell Grange. He said the two injured passengers, one of whom shot the kidnapper, such as Fitzgerald Brown and Jair Castañeda. His nationalities were not known immediately.
Williams said that Taylor was demanding to be flying from the country, possibly to Mexico, and at one point he wanted the plane to land to add more fuel.
The spokesman for the United States Embassy, Luke Martin, in Belize, said that Taylor also insisted that they take him to the United States.
“We don’t know why I wanted to return to the United States,” Martin said.
American officials said they did not know the reason for the kidnapping of Taylor, but they were working with the Belizeñas authorities to determine what happened.
