Hijacked Cuban plane reaches Florida

Hijacked Cuban plane reaches Florida

A hijacked Cuban plane with more than 20 passengers on board has landed in Key West, Florida, under United States military escort.
The plane was hooked up to a refuelling truck
The aircraft landed at 1134 (1634 GMT), according to the US Federal Aviation Authority.

The hijacker, said to be armed with two hand grenades, had initially demanded to be flown to Florida shortly after the plane left Cuba’s Isle of Youth at around 0130 GMT on Tuesday.

But the pilot said he did not have enough fuel to fly to Miami and landed at Havana airport – where shortly after daybreak on Tuesday it was hooked up to a refuelling vehicle.

At least 20 passengers were either released or managed to escape while the plane was on the tarmac overnight.

The ones who escaped jumped out of the back of the Soviet-made Antonov-24 airliner into the arms of emergency workers below.

The hijacker may have released other passengers in exchange for refuelling of the plane.

The plane took off for the second time at 1545 GMT on Tuesday.

‘US responsible’

The airliner was on the same route as a plane successfully diverted to Florida by six hijackers armed with knives about two weeks ago.

A Cuban plane was successfully hijacked about two weeks ago
The six are awaiting trial in the US on air piracy charges.

The Cuban authorities say the US encourages potential hijackers by tending to give those Cubans that make it to the US automatic asylum.

“The entire responsibility of what could happen [in the latest hijack attempt] will fall on the government of that country,” a statement by Cuban officials said of the US