Emirates Flight diverts to Mumbai

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Contact photographer Manas Barooah

What: Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-323X en route from Amsterdam to Detroit
Where: Detroit-Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
When: Dec 25, 2009
Who: 278 passengers
Why: On approach to Detroit, Nigerian passenger Abdul Mudallad, an engineering student at the University College in London, attempted to set off firecrackers in an attempt to explode the plane. (Mudallad is the son of a Nigerian banker.) The passenger’s device failed to ignite the plane, although the device did make a little pop and emitted smoke. Hearing the pop, a passenger, Dutch video director Jasper Schuringa, jumped over other passengers and took care of it so the fire went out.

Later reports indicate that the passenger had a liquid and powder concealed under his pants, with the ultimate objective of having them detonate when he put them together. The detonation, however, sounded like “a firecracker exploding inside a pillowcase” as described by passengers. A woman seated near the Nigerian passenger had asked him what he was doing, causing an alert; and when the fire-cracker-like sound went off, several passengers became involved. By the time minutes had passed and stewards had brought a fire extinguisher, the passenger had already been subdued by other passengers.

His legs were burned from his efforts. He was removed to the front of the plane; and after the plane landed, was taken into custody.