We don't know a lot yet about the man accused of trying to hijack a CanJet flight in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Monday. But all reports coming out of the country continually refer to 23-year-old Stephen Fray (left) as "mentally unbalanced." He was apparently upset after going through a recent break-up.
But while that might partially explain his alleged actions that have drawn keen attention around the world, it doesn't shed light on how he allegedly got onto Flight 918 from Halifax with a gun and demanded to be flown to the plane's next destination, Cuba.
The drama began late Sunday night, when the jet landed for what was supposed to be a short stopover at Sangster International Airport. An intruder somehow made it through security and onto the runway.
The gunman is said to have demanded cash in exchange for letting all 174 passengers and two crew members get off. He held six more CanJet employees hostage in an ordeal that wound up lasting eight tension filled hours. Many of the crew were from Toronto.
Pat Roxborough-Wright, a reporter with the Jamaica Observer, told
CityNews that passengers gave the gunman their cash in exchange for freedom, an idea credited to a quick thinking flight attendant, who convinced the gunman to use that in exchange for their freedom.
"No one was hurt. The passengers were released. Some were robbed but they have all been brought to various hotels," Roxborough-Wright revealed.
Passengers immediately left the craft, with harrowing tales of their ordeal.
"I'm hijacking this plane," one recalls the man shouting, before blasting a flight attendant with a fire extinguisher. "I mean business, this is a hijacking, sit down, nobody move."
A shot was fired out the back door of the plane but it's not known who the gunman may have been aiming at.
Suzanne Ferguson was heading to Cuba for a wedding and admits although the hostage taking was brief for passengers, it seemed to last forever. "We were in the plane about 45 minutes, but in our heads it lasted about three hours - panicking," she recalls.
"Finally, someone said, 'Take out all your money and he'll let you out."'
When they followed his instructions, there was intense relief as they were allowed to leave. "We were praying and crying a little bit, but everybody was quiet," Ferguson recounts.
She admits thoughts of September 11
th filled many minds. "I thought he wanted to crash the plane, like in New York," she agrees. "That's what we were all thinking."
She praises the crew for its level headed thinking and poise keeping everyone calm. "We were praying for them because they were so good for us. They were calm and told us what to do. We were lucky."
New Brunswick resident Christian Gosselin and his girlfriend Nancy Beattie were among the passengers already on board when the man came out of nowhere. "He walked up and down the aisle and he told people to keep calm, he didn't want to hurt anybody," relates Alphonse Gosselin, Christian's father. "And my son said that at some times he was putting the gun under people's noses."
The experience has been enough to make Beattie swear off flying altogether. "In her words, she says, 'I can't not begin to describe what it feels like,'" Gosselin explains. "She said she might not go on a plane again after this."
Finally, at about 8am, security forces went onboard the plane and captured the hijacker without anyone getting hurt.
The country's Prime Minister apologized for what happened. "I'm very relieved, extremely relieved, that it's over and nobody has been hurt," said Jamaican P.M. Bruce Golding. He's promised a complete investigation about how security was breached.
Photo credit: Pat Roxborough-Wright/AFP/Getty Images
Another CanJet plane was headed to Montego Bay to pick up the stranded passengers. They will decide whether to continue to Cuba or return home.
"At this point, we're going to continue to work with Jamaican authorities, to make sure any additional information that we can provide and from that investigation and review, our ongoing evaluation of airports would happen, but at this point, it's going to be part of that ongoing investigation and we're going to cooperate to our fullest to see what happened there," noted Kent Woodside, vice president and general manager of CanJet.
Woodside, speaking at a Monday morning press conference, said CanJet and tour operator Transat Tours would be looking into possible compensation for those involved in the situation.
"We will be working with the tour company that we represented, with Transat Tours, and we'll be trying to accommodate all of the situations to customer satisfaction," Woodside explained. "But our first order of priority today is to get the people that wanted to continue their vacations on to Santa Clara and the people that are in Santa Clara that are really just dealing with a delayed flight. Get them back to Halifax."
Coincidentally, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was also in Jamaica for a one-day visit and he woke up to the news there on Monday. The PM praised the efforts of Jamaican authorities, Golding and the CanJet Airlines crew in bringing the situation to a safe end.
"Today is a testament to the personal bravery of all those involved and the close cooperation between friends that has allowed us to save lives, and more importantly to escape this without any injuries at all," Harper said.
"Today is a day to be truly joyful. It's very rare that we have events like this that end so well."
Newspaper reports identify Fray as a college graduate who lives in Montego Bay and comes from a prominent family.
One Jamaican newspaper is reporting that Fray allegedly used fake ID to get clearance onto the runway and the plane. But there's no word on where he might have obtained it or how he could have used it to get by guards.
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