Mexico City – An American man diverted a small plane in Belize on Thursday, stabbing two passengers and a pilot, before one of the stabbed passengers killed him fatally, officials of Belize and the United States said. The plane then landed safely.
The man, Akinyela Taylor, was formerly assistant football coach McCluer North in the county of St. Louis, spokesperson for the Ferguson-Floritante school district on Thursday evening.
The tropical airplane carried 14 passengers and two crew members, and stole from Corozal, a small town near the Belize border with Mexico, heading for the popular tourist destination of San Pedro when it was diverted.
The plane turned in random directions for almost two hours while the drama took place in the sky. The plane was reduced by a police helicopter before being at an airport in the coastal city of Ladyville.
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The Belize authorities declared a complete emergency immediately after the start of the incident, around 8:30 a.m., the local time, according to a statement from the Belize Airport Concession Company.
“Faced with incomprehensible pressure, our pilot acted with extraordinary courage and calm, guiding the plane to a safe landing. His actions were simply heroic,” said Maximillian Greif, CEO of the airline.
The two wounded passengers and pilots were treated in a hospital for their injuries, officials said.
The spokesman for the US State Department Tammy Bruce, said in a briefing in Washington that the managers always collected information on what had happened.
“Horrible,” she said. “We are grateful, I think we are all, that it has not transformed into a mass event with I believe that more than a dozen people on the plane. Obviously, we know some details. We don’t know much more. ”
Chester Williams, a Belize police commissioner, identified the air pirate like Akinyela Taylor and said he was an American military veteran. US officials were unable to confirm the declaration of the Belize police commissioner that Taylor was a military veteran.
Onye Holloman, spokesperson for Ferguson-Florier, said that Taylor had been deputy coach to McCluer North from June 27, 2018 to February 6, 2019 and is not affiliated now in the district.
One of the stabbed passengers managed to shoot Taylor, who was killed, said Williams, adding that the passenger was authorized to carry a gun and then returned his weapon to the police. The passenger was stabbed behind his back and suffered a puncture in his lungs, said Williams. It remains in critical condition.
“We pray for him,” Williams told journalists. “It’s our hero.”
A Tropic Air official, who spoke under the cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to journalists, identified the injured crew Howll Grange. He said that the two injured passengers, one of whom had shot the air pirate, as Fitzgerald Brown and Jair Castañeda. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Williams said Taylor asked to get out of the country, perhaps in Mexico, and at some point, that the plane attracts more fuel.
The spokesman for the American embassy, Luke Martin, in Belize, said that Taylor also insisted that he was taken to the United States
“We don’t know why he wanted to return to the United States,” said Martin.
US officials said they did not know the reason for Taylor’s diversion, but worked with the Belizées authorities to determine what happened.
This story was reported by the Associated Press in Mexico City. Mark Schlinkmann of Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
