Inside the Tropic Air Hijacking: Three-Hour Hostage Standoff in the Skies

We now move to bring you a detailed account of today’s hijacking …. A routine domestic flight turned into a life-threatening crisis when a knife-wielding American national hijacked a Tropic Air plane shortly after takeoff from Corozal. The routine flight to San Pedro stretched into a tense near-three-hour standoff in the skies, as 49-year-old Akinyela Taylor held the pilot and 15 passengers, including an infant, hostage. Our newsroom had been following the incident since receiving the initial reports and filed the following story. 

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: What was supposed to be a routine flight from Corozal to San Pedro took a dramatic and dangerous turn after a man armed with a knife hijacked an aircraft mid-air holding the pilot and 14 passengers hostage. It was just after 7:30 this morning when the Tropic Air aircraft took off from the Ranchito municipal airstrip in Corozal en route to San Pedro. The flight was expected to take an estimated 23 minutes, but instead it became a terrifying ordeal that lasted over three hours when 49-year-old Akinyela Taylor, a US national, pulled the knife mid-flight, threatening pilot Howell Grinage.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “This hijacker was demanding that he be taken out of the country and at one point in time he demanded that they land at an area where they can receive additional fuel. The plane circled the Belize airspace between Belize City, Ladyville and at one point in time the radar picked up the plane all the way out in the Turneffe Atoll area flying out there. Our biggest concern was the fuel consumption of the plane. Information we were getting that the fuel was depleting and the plane was still at a very high altitude.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: With not enough fuel to complete his demand to be flown to the United States, Taylor forced the pilot to keep circling in search of a possible landing option. At one point the plane attempted to land on Caye Chapel, one of the various airstrips where police had been positioned. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Closer to the time of landing, the plane had come to the PGA and was about to land. And then we suddenly saw the plane went up back again. The pilot later communicated to us that the hijacker had directed him not to land the plane here. I guess because he knew that once it landed here there would be police waiting. And so they went again and again with what we were told 20 minutes fuel they went all the way out east of the airport, that will be in the Blackbird area, Caye Caulker, San Pedro, at one point we thought he was going to land in Caye Chapel.” 

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: With the aircraft having limited fuel and no way of knowing what was Taylor’s next move, police quickly moved to mobilize a helicopter and emergency services as two passengers on board the plane had been stabbed multiple times by Taylor. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Knowing that the fuel was depleting, we were hoping that we don’t have to move from a search and rescue operation to a search and recovery operation.  So the thing with the helicopter was to follow the plane to see where it would land so if they had decided to crash land the plane in the sea or on one of the islands we would have been there quickly to respond.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News:  And after almost three hours of circling over the Belize district the aircraft began descending at the Philip Goldson International Airport around 10:40. At that time, the passengers, two of whom were US nationals, had been ordered to exit their seats and wait at the back of the plane as it landed. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “We spotted the plane from a distance coming down and landed at the PGIA. Upon landing, the team at the airport, I must say that we were supported by the BDF as well and the employees of the PGA, including Ms. Espat, were very, very cooperative with the police and the operations, making sure we were able to get access to whatever we needed to get access to.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Police and emergency personnel immediately moved to secure the area and swooped in as the aircraft landed to detain Taylor. However, when police arrived at the plane, they discovered that Taylor had been shot once in the chest by a passenger who had a licensed firearm.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “We immediately made our way to the runway. I must say that the plane landed it out of fuel. So again, God is good.  The passengers were quick to alight the plane and they were met by police and the airport employees. We also encountered the hijacker and I must say that the hijacker was shot to the chest. Three passengers on board the plane  received various degrees of injuries. They were stabbed with a knife. The hijacker had a knife and what we gathered from one of the passengers who was injured is that as the plane landed, he shot the hijacker. He had a licensed firearm and so he was the one who shot the hijacker and he also handed his firearm over to us. Sadly, that passenger is in a critical condition because he was stabbed I think in the back and his lung seems to have been collapsing. He has been rushed to the medical associates where we’re praying for him. He’s our hero, I must say, for today. And the hijacker was also  taken to the KHMH and was pronounced dead on arrival.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: While the three injured passengers remain hospitalized in stable condition, questions remain about how Taylor managed to board the flight with a weapon and what led him to carry out this heinous act. Vejea Alvarez, Love News.