A passenger on a small plane from Belize on Thursday shot dead an American armed with a knife who was attempting a hijacking, police in the Caribbean nation said.
The would-be hijacker threatened the pilot shortly after the Cessna Grand Caravan from Belize’s Tropic Air took off in the morning with 14 on board from the town of Corozal.
It was headed for the Belizean island of San Pedro, but the man ordered the pilot to head “out of the country”, police commissioner Chester Williams told Channel 5 news.
The plane hovered for some time over the international airport of Belize City before landing just as it was about to run out of fuel, at which point the hijacker stabbed two fellow passengers.
One had a firearm he was licensed to carry, and shot the attacker dead, according to officials and local media.
