By Horace Helps
KINGSTON (Reuters) - A would-be hijacker surrendered to the authorities on Monday after releasing the last of more than 180 hostages he seized hours earlier aboard a Canadian charter jet in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The suspect, described as "a troubled young man" who had demanded to be flown to Cuba, breached security about 10 p.m. on Sunday (4 a.m. British time Monday) to force his way aboard the CanJet charter flight at Sangster International Airport in Jamaica's prime tourist resort.
A shot was fired as the drama unfolded, but no one was wounded, a senior police official said.
CanJet said the incident aboard Flight 918, involving a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 182 passengers and crew, occurred after it made a scheduled landing in Montego Bay en route from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Kent Woodside, CanJet vice president and general manager, told a pre-dawn news conference in Halifax that all 174 passengers and two crew members had been safely removed from the aircraft, but six crew were still on the plane with the gunman on the tarmac at Sangster International.
After tense negotiations, personally overseen by Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his national security minister, Dwight Nelson, the gunman freed his remaining hostages unharmed and surrendered to police.
The suspect, who was believed to have been armed with a handgun, was identified by police as Stephen Fray, a resident of Montego Bay and the son of a well-known doctor practicing in the city.
Information Minister Daryl Vaz said earlier the young man was about 20 years old.
"MENTAL CHALLENGES"
"This is the case of a troubled young man," Vaz told CNN, adding, "He definitely has had some mental challenges."
"Originally, his demands were to be flown to Cuba because the flight actually was going to Cuba and then back to Halifax. That really was his demand," Vaz said.
But Vaz stressed in his comments to reporters that his actions represented "an isolated case" in the Caribbean nation, which is heavily dependent on tourism.
"This is not an act of terrorism and should not be seen as such," Vaz said.
"The military and police were able to take the man into custody in a peaceful manner," he said.
A caller to Radio Jamaica from the Montego Bay, in a sun-drenched northwest corner of the island nation, said it had had been thrown into chaos by the nine-hour hostage situation.
"We see this happening in the movies, but we never knew this could happen in Jamaica. I am very concerned," he said.
CanJet said it was operating the flight to Montego Bay on behalf of Transat Tours Canada.
The Jamaican government said it would compensate passengers for cash or other valuables they forked over to the would-be hijacker, some in an apparent bid to win their safe release.
"Some passengers said that they lost money when the hijacker took it from them. Some said that they left their medication on board, but whatever is lost, the government of Jamaica is committed to giving them back everything that they came here with," Vaz told reporters
(Writing by Tom Brown; Editing by Paul Simao)
