UAE: Passengers on the Emirates flight with the bombing suspect say everyone remained calm during the incident

Record ID: 588927

  • Title: UAE: Passengers on the Emirates flight with the bombing suspect say everyone remained calm during the incident
  • Date: 6th May 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF AL-MAGD'S DAUGHTER
  • Embargoed: 21st May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAACPNY9TYA25GO715W0C5VD4CL
  • Story Text: Passengers flying on Emirates Airlines flight 202 from New York to Dubai described the mood as calm and controlled as police boarded the aircraft just before take off to arrest the suspect accused of attempting to detonate a bomb in New York's busy Times Square on Wednesday ( May 5) Azza Abou Al-Magd, flying from Florida to Dubai with her husband and two daughter described the scene few rows in front of her.
    "On the plane I saw three people being off loaded, but they were off loaded by Emirates ground staff and they were very decent you know. They came on board, that was in row 17, 18, I was on row 23, so they went up to one guy who had white shirt and blue jeans and they told him can you get your luggage with you and your passport and can you come with us back to the terminal. And there was another guy that had a black shirt and I think black pants and they all looked youngish guys, you know, thirty, late thirty, all Asian, you know, Indian, Pakistani, but they were very decent, the staff that asked them to leave the plane were very decent," said Azza, originally from Egypt, but residing in Dubai since 1997.
    Emirates confirmed on Wednesday (May 5) that two of the three passengers that were removed from EK202 after it was called back by local authorities were cleared and allowed to continue their flights.
    Azza says she witnessed only one man being escorted off her plane by armed uniformed police officers.
    "The only person that was escorted out of the plane with uniformed people was a man sitting I think in row 30, he was all the way in the back, but again pretty close to where I was, and because they past right in front of us, because you know we were sitting in the row where there is baby bassinet and so there was a lot of leg room and so the officers were passing right in front of us and the guy stooped told him (the suspect), 'Do you have camera on you?' and the passenger told him 'No I don't' and he said 'Do you have a phone on you?' and he said 'Yes I do' and he said ' Can you give me your phone?' So he gave him the phone and they said 'Can you have to come with us sir' and he was escorted out of the plane by three police officers or three policemen."
    On Wednesday prosecutors charged Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, with five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States.
    The Pakistani-American admitted trying to detonate a bomb in New York's busy Times Square and receiving bomb-making training in a known Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.
    Shahzad was arrested late on Monday (May 3) after he was taken off an Emirates plane that was about to depart for Dubai. Hours later, several of his relatives were arrested in Pakistan, security sources said.
    Flight 202 arrived in Dubai seven hour late, but despite delays and the arrests on board the atmosphere amongst passengers was that of calm, said al-Magd.
    "Nobody panicked, honestly nobody panicked, everybody was so calm, everybody was so quiet, there were a lot of people who had connecting flights, they were just wanted to get the hell out of JFK, I wanted to get out because I have two kids, but I didn't see anybody panic or anybody say ' I wanna go' or anybody saying 'I want to take another flight because I am not comfortable with this one', nobody panicked, everybody was so comfortable," she added.
    Passengers arriving at Terminal 3 at Dubai's International Airport said that the first they heard about what had happened on the plane was when they were taken to wait in the airport lounge area while their luggage was being rescanned.
    "No we weren't, you know like I said we weren't, because they didn't tell us, hey listen guys, we didn't know what was going on, when we went back to and taxing, and then we went back to the airport that was when we became somewhat concerned but we weren't terribly nervous, you know because I, I called a friend at home and said turn on CNN and tell me what's going on on my plane and he told me so, then I knew what was going on," said Faye Roy, from Merrill, Washington.
    Although most passengers weren't too concerned about the situation, some expressed anxiety about what they went through.
    "Yeah honestly I was worried, I was planning to cancel the flight and take another flight, and you know it's not so easy how you feel, it was very difficult when you hear about something like this," said Samir Al-Ammari who was in transit in Dubai on his way to Saudi Arabia, where he resides.
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