This Holy Thursday began with news that left the entire country stunned. A Tropic Air Flight, heading from Corozal to San Pedro, was hijacked by a man with a knife. During the ordeal, three persons were injured, and the hijacker, American National Akinyela Taylor was eventually killed.

It's a terrifying tale that included 14 frightened passengers, 3 brave Belizeans, and a small aircraft with limited fuel. It's also an event that left behind many questions - what was Taylor's motives? How did he get into the country? Where was he headed? And how did he get a knife onto the plane?

While Taylor won't be able to answer any of those question, the police department have been on the case since around 8:30 this morning. Following the plane's safe landing at the PGIA, the ComPol gave a briefing of what they know so far. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.

Passengers heading from Corozal to San Pedro boarded a Tropic Air flight around 8 this morning. Less than half an hour later, the authorities received an unprecedented and alarming call - the plane had been hijacked by a passenger - US National 49 year old Akinyela Taylor.

Taylor, who was reportedly armed with a knife, moved to the front of the Cessna Caravan and forced the pilot to change directions.

For the officials at the airstrip, the international airport, and within the police department, their biggest concern was rapidly depleting fuel in the aircraft.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Based on what we were getting is that this hijacker was demanding that he be taken out of the country and at one point in time he demanded they land at an area where they can receive additional fuel. The plane circled the Belize airspace between Belize City, Ladyville and at one point in time the radar picked up the plane all the way out in the Turneffe Atoll area flying all the way out there. Our greatest concern was the fuel consumption of the plane, information we were getting was that the fuel was depleting and the plane was still at a very high altitude moving."

According to the Commissioner, the police wasted no time in deploying, but they were unsure where the plane would ultimately land. Teams were sent to the airstrips in Belize City, Caye Caulker, San Pedro, Dangriga and even along the Coastal Road.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Taylor reportedly stabbed three persons during the aircraft's two hour flight - a passenger, a manager at Tropic Air, and the pilot.

It wasn't until around 10:30 that the aircraft finally landed.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Closer to the time of landing the plane had come to the PGIA and was about to land and then we certainly saw the plane went back up again and the pilot later communicated to us that the hijacker had directed him not to land the plane here, I guess he knew that once he landed here there would be police waiting and so they went again with what we were told, 20 minutes of fuel, they went all the way east of the airport. That would be in the Blackbird area, Caye Caulker, San Pedro, at one point we thought it was going to land in Caye Chapel and so what we did is we contacted Astrum Helicopter because now we were thinking outside the box, knowing that the fuel was depleting, we were hoping we didn't have to move from a search and rescue operation to a search and recovery operation so the thing with the helicopter was to follow the plane to see where it would land so if they had decided to crash-land the plane in the sea or on one of the islands we would have been there quickly to respond and provide assistance to this passengers providing that they would have survived so we ensured that we planned properly for whatever may eventually happen. And so as we were about to board the chopper to go out we were informed that the plane was back over Ladyville, over the PGIA. And then we spotted the plane from a distance coming down and landed at the PGIA."

And the landing happened just before the aircraft would have run out of fuel.

However, at that moment, one of the injured passengers took the opportunity to pull out his licensed firearm to subdue the hijacker.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I must say that high-jacker was shot to the chest. Three passengers on board the plane received varying degrees of injuries they were stabbed with a knife, the hijacker had a knife and what we gathered from one of the passengers who were injured is that as the plane landed he shot the hijacker, he had licensed firearm and so he was the one who shot the hijacker and also handed over his firearm to us. Sadly that passenger is in a critical condition because he was stabbed in the think in the back and his lungs seemed to have been collapsing. He has been rushed to the medical associates and we are praying for him, he is our hero I must say for today and the hijacker was also taken to the KHMH and was pronounced dead on arrival so the hijacker is dead."

And while Taylor was killed, the three other injured passengers have since received blood donations and are in stable conditions at the hospital.

It's the best case scenario following the two hours of terror in the skies of Belize - an unnerving incident that has highlighted the glaring lack of security at the municipal airstrips.

The injured persons include Jair Castaneda - a manager at Tropic Air, Howell Grange - the flight's pilot, and Fitzgerald Brown - the passenger who shot the hijacker. Castaneda and Brown are currently at the Belize Medical Associates with cut wounds. Grange had to undergo an operation at Belize Healthcare Partners. Notably, this is not the first instance a Tropic Air flight has been hijacked. It occurred back in 1970, 6 days before Easter, when the elder John Greif was taken from the municipal airstrip all the way to Cuba.