Plane explosion scare leads to charges for Nigerian

Malaysia News.Net
Saturday 26th December, 2009

A 23-year-old Nigerian man has been charged with trying to destroy a Northwest Airlines flight with a powerful explosive device.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab set off the device attached to his body as the Northwest airliner was approaching Detroit airport from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

But rather than bring the plane down, the explosion sparked a fire on Abdulmutallab’s body.

Passengers have told investigators that after Abdulmutallab went to an airline toilet, he returned to his seat and pulled a blanket over himself.

They said they then heard a popping noise, smelled an explosive-type odour then saw Abdulmutallab catching fire.

As his trousers and the wall of the plane caught alight, a Dutch tourist climbed over seats to subdue the would-be bomber.

Jasper Schuringa of Amsterdam told CNN he “figured the suspect was trying to blow up the plane."

He said he jumped over seats and crossed the aisle before extinguishing the fire with his hands and searching Mutallab for explosives.

Schuringa said he and other passengers took the man to first class where they stripped him and contained him to make sure he had no more weapons.

A federal judge has now told the Nigerian man that he has been charged with trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane.

The charges were laid at the University of Michigan Medical Centre in Ann Arbor, where Mutallab is being treated for burns.

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