A knife-wielding US citizen went on a stabbing spree after hijacking a small plane in Belize, before being shot dead by one of the injured passengers, police said.
The hijacker has been identified as Akinyela Sawa Taylor, a 49-year-old military veteran, said Belize police commissioner Chester Williams.
The man was aboard a Tropic Air plane carrying 14 passengers and two crew members, en route from Corozal, a small town near Belize’s border with Mexico, to the popular tourist destination of San Pedro.
The plane flew in erratic circles in the airspace between northern Belize and the capital, Belize City, for nearly two hours as the mid-air drama unfolded. A police helicopter tailed the aircraft before it eventually landed at an airport in the coastal town of Ladyville.
The hijacker stabbed three people on board, including the pilot and a passenger who shot Taylor with a licensed firearm as the plane landed outside Belize City, police said. Upon landing, the injured pilot, passengers, and Taylor were rushed to the hospital, but the hijacker succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
Belizean authorities declared a full emergency shortly after the incident began, around 8.30am local time, according to a statement from the Belize Airport Concession Company.
The police commissioner said it was unclear how Taylor managed to board the plane with a knife, acknowledging that the country’s smaller airstrips lack proper security measures.
Taylor was reportedly denied entry into the country over the weekend. Police commissioner, Mr Williams, said Taylor was demanding to be flown out of Belize, possibly to Mexico, and at one point asked for the plane to land so it could be refuelled.
The stabbed passenger who managed to shoot Taylor had a licence to carry a firearm and later handed the weapon over to police, Mr Williams said. The passenger was stabbed in the back and sustained a punctured lung. He remains in critical condition.
“We are praying for him,” Mr Williams told reporters. “He’s our hero.”
US state department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, said at a news briefing in Washington that officials were still gathering information about the incident.
“Horrifying,” she said. “We are grateful, I think all of us are, that that did not turn into a mass casualty event with, I believe, over a dozen people on the plane. Clearly we know a few details. We don’t know much more.”
Luke Martin, a US embassy spokesperson in Belize, said Taylor also insisted that he be taken to the US. “We don’t know why he wanted to go back to the United States.”
The airline, in a statement, said in the face of incomprehensible pressure, “our pilot acted with extraordinary courage and calm, guiding the aircraft to a safe landing”.
“His actions were nothing short of heroic.”
