The hijacking of a charter plane at a Jamaican airport was the act of a local man who wanted to be flown to Cuba and was not an act of terrorism, a top official said on Monday.
"The hijacking is that from a mentally challenged youngster and not anything that would be of concern in terms of an international incident," said Jamaica's Information Minister Daryl Vaz. "Thank God, there are no injuries in terms of the passengers."
As of early Monday, the standoff continued inside the CanJet plane at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.
The armed man, thought to be in his early 20s, had released all passengers but continued holding five crew members hostage. Two of them had locked themselves in the cockpit.
"His demand was to go to Cuba," Vaz said.
Among those negotiating with the man were his father and Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who flew in by helicopter. The country's minister of national security also was at hand.
"All passengers have been safely removed from the aircraft, but CanJet crew and the armed man remain on board," the airline said in a statement. "Our understanding is that no harm has come to anyone remaining on board and there has been no damage to the aircraft."
The passengers were taken to a hotel, Vaz said.
CanJet Flight 918 flew in from Halifax, Canada, and had made a scheduled landing at Montego Bay, when the armed man boarded the plane late Sunday, the airline said.
The flight was carrying 182 passengers and crew. The man took an undisclosed number of them hostage, said Elizabeth Scotton, a spokeswoman for the company that manages the airport.
Christen Gosslin, a passenger on the flight, told his father that the gunman demanded cash from the plane's occupants. Vaz, the information minister, confirmed the account.
"The guy wanted to have all their money," said Gosslin's father, Alphonse. "He (my son) told his girlfriend to take all the money and just take her passport and credit card and put it in her back pocket."
Christen Gosslin was part of a 25-person wedding party. He and his girlfriend were released by the hostage-taker, and they spoke to his father in New Brunswick, Canada, while waiting for another flight.
"I didn't ask them too many questions; I was more concerned for their safety," the father said. "They were a bit shaken up. It was quite an experience."
Another passenger, Brenda Grenier, called her husband and said the man apparently had sneaked aboard the plane as airport workers were loading bags. Grenier and her daughter were safe, her husband said by phone from his home in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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