Ethiopia‬n Hijacker ‘Threatened To Crash Plane’ says passenger

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Ethiopian Hijacker ‘Threatened To Crash Plane’ says passenger

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“The pilot was threatening to open the cockpit door and tried to knock it down without succeeding,” said Mr Cuomo, a 25-year-old economist.

“At this point, a message was transmitted by the loudspeakers in poor English, but the threat to crash the aeroplane was clearly understood,” he added.

Oxygen masks then came down, he said, making everyone on the plane very tense.
“We had no clue about the hijacking, but got scared when the plane suddenly started diving, it seemed like it was falling from the sky,” Italian passenger Diego Carpelli, 45, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Mr Carpelli was returning to his native Rome from a vacation in Kenya with his family.

“Someone in an intimidating tone said we should put on our oxygen masks,” Mr Carpelli said, adding that he was terrified for the rest of the flight.

Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot said the co-pilot will be charged with taking hostages, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The Swiss federal prosecutors’ office said later on Monday that it had taken over the case.
Mr Jornot said the hijacker’s chances of winning asylum were slim.

“Technically there is no connection between asylum and the fact he committed a crime to come here,” he said. “But I think his chances are not very high.”