CanJet Flight 918 hijacked

Monday, April 20, 2009

CanJet Flight 918 was hijacked on 19 April 2009, at approximately 22:30 local time at Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The hijacking was executed by a single armed gunman, who later released all of the passengers and two of the crew, keeping six crew members hostage, according to a press statement by CanJet.

The man broke through security and boarded before the plane was scheduled to leave. There are contradictory statements on the number of passengers on board when the man forced his way onto the plane. According to the BBC, there were more than 150, while CBC states that "Most of the (...) passengers had not yet boarded the flight". The hijacker apparently demanded passage to Cuba.

The plane was stormed by Jamaican police in the morning of the 20th of April, who succeeded in taking the hijacker into custody and freeing the captives.

The flight had started from Halifax International Airport, in Nova Scotia, Canada, at 7:15pm local time. It was stopping in Montego Bay and was scheduled to continue to Santa Clara in Cuba. The airplane in use is a Boeing 737-800.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has more about this subject:

CanJet Flight 918

Kent Woodside. "Statement by Kent Woodside, Vice President and General Manager, CanJet Airlines. (07:30 AM ADT)" — CanJet press releases, April 20, 2009
"Caribbean Hijack: Plane Crew Taken Hostage" — Sky News, April 20, 2009
"Jamaica plane hijacker surrenders" — BBC News, April 20, 2009
"Hijacker in custody, Canadian crew released: Jamaican police" — CBC News, April 20, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.