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'His eyes looked glossy'
Passengers relate frightening encounter on CanJet 918
BY MARK CUMMINGS Observer senior reporter cumminmgsm@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
MONTEGO BAY, St James - Passengers freed from CanJet flight 918 yesterday said hijacker Stephen Fray had a glazed look in his eyes as he held a gun to the head of at least two people, demanded money and to be taken first to the USA, then to another destination.
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| Fray. was found with Can$8,500 and US$500 |
"His eyes looked glossy. His pupil was tiny," Wayne Murray of Halifax, Nova Scotia, told the Observer. "He said if we give him money we could get out and he held a gun at my head. We gave him the money and put up our hands in the air. Sometime later we were allowed to leave the aircraft. The crew was told to stay on board."
Murray said he gave Fray, who appeared to him to be about six feet tall and wearing a grey T-shirt and a dark pants, Can$30.
Murray, who was travelling with his wife Mina, said that although the ordeal frightened him, he was able to keep his cool.
The passengers spoke to the Observer en route to the Sangster Airport for a flight home hours after Fray, a 21-year-old Montegonian armed with a five-shooter .38 revolver, barged through security check points and commandeered the aircraft late Sunday night.
"We did not see the gun when he came on the plane," said Murray. "I was in seat 4a at the front beside my wife in 4b. There was another couple coming in behind him (Fray)."
Another passenger, Mireille Pelletier, related how Fray held the gun to the head of a flight attendant.
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| Mireille Pelletier and her husband Guy at the Sunset Beach Resort shortly before their departure for the Sangster International Airport yesterday. (Photo: Horace Hines) |
"When I saw the guy with the gun at the flight attendant's head I felt like crying and I said 'oh my God', but she never panicked," said Pelletier. "Nobody panicked in the aeroplane. Somebody told us don't panic and then she (flight attendant) opened the door and the guy asked us for money. We gave him all the money we had.
"At first he said that he wanted to go to the USA, then he said he wanted to go to somewhere else, I don't know where," added Pelletier, who was travelling with her husband, Guy who, along with other passengers, confirmed that Fray fired one shot outside the plane and demanded to be flown out of Jamaica.
The passengers said it was the flight attendants who negotiated their early release by asking them to heed Fray's demand for money.
Last night, Daryl Vaz, who has responsibility for information, told the Observer that after Fray was captured by Jamaica Defence Force soldiers he was found with Can$8,500 and US$500.
Yesterday, as they prepared to leave the island, the passengers said that despite the frightening ordeal they were prepared to return to Jamaica on vacation.
"The hijacking was an unfortunate experience, but inspite of that, we had a wonderful time during our short stay here," Pelletier told the Observer minutes before boarding a chartered bus at the Sunset Beach Resort in this resort city, for the airport. "We were treated very well by the people and the Jamaican Government and we are leaving with a good impression."
Murray, agreed.
"I am looking forward to coming back to this island. It is a beautiful place and I am hoping to be back soon," he said.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding and other Government ministers, as well as officials from the tourism sector, visited the passengers and crew and presented them with souvenirs before their departure on a 4:35pm flight.
Meanwhile, the passengers heaped praises on the airline's crew, saying that they were very professional during the ordeal.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also praised the CanJet crew as well as the Jamaican security forces for resolving the hostage drama without violence.
Harper, who is in Jamaica on an official visit, offered his congratulations for the "safe relief of the passengers and crew" at a joint press conference with Golding at the VIP Lounge at the Sangster International Airport.
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