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Hostage Situation in Montego Bay, Jamaica Resolved

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – The hostage situation at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica involving a young man armed with a gun who forced his way through security check points and a CANJET chartered aircraft has been resolved without any harm to the 159 passengers on board and the eight crew members.

At approximately 6:40 am (Monday, April 20) members of the Jamaica Defence Force Counter Terrorism Operations Group entered the cabin of the aircraft and effected a tactical resolution authorized by the incident commando and in the process disarmed and arrested the gunman who has been identified as Stephen Fray from a Montego Bay address while rescuing the other hostages on board.

The hijacker is in police custody and is scheduled to be interviewed while crew members are being debriefed and will be provided with counseling and medical services.

Background Information

At approximately 10:20 pm, Sunday, April 19, a lone gunman forced his way through security check points at the Sangster International Airport and boarded CANJET flight number 918 destined for Halifax, Canada (a chartered flight) with a scheduled stop in Santa Clara, Cuba.

The gunman held hostage members of the crew (eight in total) and 159 passengers who were on board at the time for a short while before releasing all passengers and two members of the crew. No member of the aircraft’s crew or any passengers have been hurt.

The passengers have all been debriefed by the Jamaican Police and have been placed in local hotels. Following their debriefing, the passengers were addressed by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Honourable Bruce Golding who assured them that everything possible was being done to enable them to return home as early as possible.

The Jamaican Police assisted by Airport Security are working to resolve the situation which has been contained up to this time. The aircraft has been isolated and the Sangster International Airport will continue with normal operations.

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