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According to the NY Times his name is Steven Fray, That's a well know family in Montego Bay back in the day, I wonder if there is a relation.
Nuff respect to J'can security forces for resolving the situation without even firing a single shot.
This is not the norm in plane hijacking's, specially outside of the US.
Hostage Standoff Ends in Jamaica
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press
Soldiers stood near the hijacked Canjet 737 on the tarmac at the airport in Montego Bay on Monday.
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By IAN AUSTEN
Published: April 20, 2009
OTTAWA — The Jamaican police said Monday that they had custody of an armed man who had held a Canadian airliner and its crew hostage in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Monday, ending a 8-hour standoff in which no one was injured.
The gunman, described as a “mentally challenged youngster” of about 20 years old, had demanded to be taken to Cuba, the scheduled next stop of the flight, Daryl Vaz, the Jamaican information minister said.
“We were getting nowhere with the negotiations,” Mr. Vaz told The Associated Press. “Police and military went on the plane and captured him.”
The gunman stormed the parked airliner, CanJet Airlines Flight 918, at 10 p.m. local time Sunday, forcing his way past security checkpoints as the jet waited on the tarmac. Jamaican authorities said 159 passengers and eight crew members were aboard the jet at the time.
The passengers and two crew members were released quickly, but six crew members were held hostage until 6:40 a.m. Monday, when members of the Jamaica Defense Force Counter Terrorism Operations Group entered the cabin, the government said in a statement.
The charter flight, operated by Transat Tours, a large package holiday firm based in Montreal, had taken off from Halifax, Nova Scotia and was making a scheduled stop in Jamaica on its way to Cuba.
Relatives of passengers in Canada said that at least one shot was heard around the time the man — identified by authorities as Stephen Fray of Montego Bay — stormed the airplane, a Boeing 737-800. Several relatives of the gunman were brought to the airport to negotiate with him, authorities said.
The father of one passenger suggested in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the man’s motives may have included robbery.
“Passengers were asked to give out all their money,” Alphonse Gosselin, whose son Christian was on board, told the broadcaster from his home in Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. Mr. Gosselin said that the passengers complied but many hid their passports and credit cards.
Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, is in Jamaica on an official visit, but there was no indication that there was any link between the hostage incident and his trip.
Mr. Harper called Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica after the standoff ended and “congratulated him for the successful resolution,” his spokesman Dimitri Soudas said, news services reported.
Nuff respect to J'can security forces for resolving the situation without even firing a single shot.
This is not the norm in plane hijacking's, specially outside of the US.
Hostage Standoff Ends in Jamaica
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressSoldiers stood near the hijacked Canjet 737 on the tarmac at the airport in Montego Bay on Monday.
function getSharePasskey() { return 'ex=1397966400&en=76b1004d268da85a&ei=5124';}funct ion getShareURL() { return encodeURIComponent('http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/americas/21jamaica.html');}function getShareHeadline() { return encodeURIComponent('Hostage Standoff Ends in Jamaica');}function getShareDescription() { return encodeURIComponent('The Jamaican police said Monday that they had custody of an armed man who had held a Canadian airliner and its crew hostage.');}function getShareKeywords() { return encodeURIComponent('Airlines and Airplanes,Jamaica (NYC)');}function getShareSection() { return encodeURIComponent('world');}function getShareSectionDisplay() { return encodeURIComponent('International / Americas');}function getShareSubSection() { return encodeURIComponent('americas');}function getShareByline() { return encodeURIComponent('By IAN AUSTEN');}function getSharePubdate() { return encodeURIComponent('April 21, 2009');} writePost();
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: April 20, 2009
OTTAWA — The Jamaican police said Monday that they had custody of an armed man who had held a Canadian airliner and its crew hostage in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Monday, ending a 8-hour standoff in which no one was injured.
The gunman, described as a “mentally challenged youngster” of about 20 years old, had demanded to be taken to Cuba, the scheduled next stop of the flight, Daryl Vaz, the Jamaican information minister said.
“We were getting nowhere with the negotiations,” Mr. Vaz told The Associated Press. “Police and military went on the plane and captured him.”
The gunman stormed the parked airliner, CanJet Airlines Flight 918, at 10 p.m. local time Sunday, forcing his way past security checkpoints as the jet waited on the tarmac. Jamaican authorities said 159 passengers and eight crew members were aboard the jet at the time.
The passengers and two crew members were released quickly, but six crew members were held hostage until 6:40 a.m. Monday, when members of the Jamaica Defense Force Counter Terrorism Operations Group entered the cabin, the government said in a statement.
The charter flight, operated by Transat Tours, a large package holiday firm based in Montreal, had taken off from Halifax, Nova Scotia and was making a scheduled stop in Jamaica on its way to Cuba.
Relatives of passengers in Canada said that at least one shot was heard around the time the man — identified by authorities as Stephen Fray of Montego Bay — stormed the airplane, a Boeing 737-800. Several relatives of the gunman were brought to the airport to negotiate with him, authorities said.
The father of one passenger suggested in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the man’s motives may have included robbery.
“Passengers were asked to give out all their money,” Alphonse Gosselin, whose son Christian was on board, told the broadcaster from his home in Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. Mr. Gosselin said that the passengers complied but many hid their passports and credit cards.
Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, is in Jamaica on an official visit, but there was no indication that there was any link between the hostage incident and his trip.
Mr. Harper called Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica after the standoff ended and “congratulated him for the successful resolution,” his spokesman Dimitri Soudas said, news services reported.
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