Zimbabwean student in SAA plane hijack drama

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By Staff Reporter

A 21-YEAR-OLD Zimbabwean student tried to hijack a South African Airways flight from Johannesburg on Saturday, reports said.

Reports say he wanted the plane to divert to Mozambique.

One South African newspaper said its police sources had identified the student only as Tinashe. He is said to have a history of mental illnesses.

South African police ruled out any link with terror groups.

The hijack drama of flight SA 322 started about 35 minutes after the plane took-off at 09:40 from Cape Town International Airport.

The man allegedly demanded access to the cockpit and, when denied, he threatened an air hostess with a syringe.

Three male passengers then jumped up and tackled the man.

One of the men who struggled with the hijacker was an off-duty pilot and he was stabbed in the hand.

A senior police source told Rapport newspaper that the air hostess was also stabbed but this was denied by SAA.

SAA said that the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) is responsible for the security screening of passengers.

After the plane returned to Cape Town, a police task force stormed aboard and apprehended the suspect. Passengers were instructed to put their hands on their heads.

Flown to Johannesburg on a later flight, they arrived at 6.30pm — apparently tired but relieved to see friends and family.

They each clutched letters of apology from SAA which stated: “We realise that this was a traumatic experience for you and we hope that you will provide us with another opportunity to welcome you onboard one of our flights under
different circumstances.”

Several passengers shook the hand of Ian Thomson, 44, from Botswana, who had been part of a group that tackled the alleged hijacker.

Cape Town photographer Roger Sedres, 37, who was seated next to the suspected hijacker, told how the well-dressed, bespectacled man had acted strangely from the time he boarded: “He kept on fiddling with his phone and putting his hand in his pockets. He did not say a word or greet me.”

Sedres said he had immediately known an attempted hijacking was in progress when, about 35 minutes into the flight, the man suddenly got up from his 22C aisle seat, walked about 20m towards the front of the plane and grabbed an air hostess.

“He said something but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.”

But the man was immediately tackled and subdued. The entire incident lasted about five minutes.

The last time South Africa had an aircraft hijacking was in 1972 when an SAA Boeing 727 — the Letaba — was hijacked en route from Durban to Johannesburg and Salisbury (now Harare). Two hijackers finally surrendered at Chileka Airport in Blantyre, Malawi.
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