[ad_1] <br><div><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">A US man has been shot useless after hijacking a small passenger airplane and injuring two passengers within the Caribbean nation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/belize" data-link-name="in body link">Belize</a>.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">Fourteen passengers had been onboard the plane when the hijacker, recognized as Akinyela Sawa Taylor, took management of the flight at knifepoint. Two passengers had been injured, together with one who was stabbed within the again.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">Taylor ordered the pilot to take him overseas, however was then shot within the chest by one other passenger, Belize’s commissioner of police, Chester Williams, instructed native journalists.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">After circling erratically over the shoreline close to Belize Metropolis, with depleting gas, the passengers’ ordeal ended when the airplane landed safely at Philip Goldson worldwide airport.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">Taylor was pronounced useless at an area hospital, and one of many injured passengers was in a essential situation after being stabbed within the again.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">Particulars of the incident remained sparse, however Williams mentioned passengers narrowly escaped a extra severe tragedy because the plane ran out of gas because it landed.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">The airplane was en route from Corozal to San Pedro when the hijacking occurred. After being contacted by passengers onboard, police had been deployed to varied airports, uncertain of the place the airplane would land. A rescue helicopter was additionally monitoring the plane.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">“We had been hoping that we don’t have to maneuver from a search-and-rescue operation to a search-and-recovery operation. The helicopter was to observe the airplane to see the place it could land. So if that they had determined to crash-land the airplane within the sea, or on one of many islands, we'd have been there shortly to reply and supply help to these passengers who won't be capable of survive,” he instructed reporters.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">The hijacker’s motives are unclear, however Williams mentioned Taylor had beforehand been refused entry into Belize, and it was not clear how he was in a position to get by way of its borders.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">Williams mentioned there could be a overview of safety procedures for home flights.</p><p class="dcr-16w5gq9">A spokesperson for the US embassy instructed reporters that it was working with Belize to analyze the incident. “We share that dedication with them to ensure that Belize is protected, the airways are protected, the vacationers coming listed here are protected, borders are protected and safe,” he mentioned.</p></div> <br>[ad_2] <br><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/17/belize-hijacking-plane">Source link </a>