A knife-wielding US citizen went on a stabbing spree after hijacking a small aircraft in Belize, earlier than being shot useless by one of many injured passengers, police stated.
The hijacker has been recognized as Akinyela Sawa Taylor, a 49-year-old navy veteran, stated Belize police commissioner Chester Williams.
The person was aboard a Tropic Air aircraft carrying 14 passengers and two crew members, en route from Corozal, a small city close to Belize’s border with Mexico, to the favored vacationer vacation spot of San Pedro.
The aircraft flew in erratic circles within the airspace between northern Belize and the capital, Belize Metropolis, for practically two hours because the mid-air drama unfolded. A police helicopter tailed the plane earlier than it will definitely landed at an airport within the coastal city of Ladyville.
The hijacker stabbed three folks on board, together with the pilot and a passenger who shot Taylor with a licensed firearm because the aircraft landed exterior Belize Metropolis, police stated. Upon touchdown, the injured pilot, passengers, and Taylor have been rushed to the hospital, however the hijacker succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
Belizean authorities declared a full emergency shortly after the incident started, round 8.30am native time, in line with an announcement from the Belize Airport Concession Firm.
The police commissioner stated it was unclear how Taylor managed to board the aircraft with a knife, acknowledging that the nation’s smaller airstrips lack correct safety measures.
Taylor was reportedly denied entry into the nation over the weekend. Police commissioner, Mr Williams, stated Taylor was demanding to be flown out of Belize, probably to Mexico, and at one level requested for the aircraft to land so it may very well be refuelled.
The stabbed passenger who managed to shoot Taylor had a licence to hold a firearm and later handed the weapon over to police, Mr Williams stated. The passenger was stabbed within the again and sustained a punctured lung. He stays in essential situation.
“We’re praying for him,” Mr Williams advised reporters. “He’s our hero.”
US state department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, stated at a information briefing in Washington that officers have been nonetheless gathering details about the incident.
“Horrifying,” she stated. “We’re grateful, I believe all of us are, that that didn’t flip right into a mass casualty occasion with, I consider, over a dozen folks on the aircraft. Clearly we all know a couple of particulars. We don’t know way more.”
Luke Martin, a US embassy spokesperson in Belize, stated Taylor additionally insisted that he be taken to the US. “We do not know why he wished to return to america.”
The airline, in an announcement, stated within the face of incomprehensible strain, “our pilot acted with extraordinary braveness and calm, guiding the plane to a secure touchdown”.
“His actions have been nothing in need of heroic.”
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