Northwest flight 253 after landing in Metropolitan Airport, Detroit

General Incident Information

On the 25th of December 2009, Christmas day, a terrorist’s attempt to blow up Northwest airline jet, flight 253,   failed after the explosive device he was using to detonate from within the plane suffered a fault in operation.

The incident ended with no fatalities and with only 3 people injured onboard: the terrorist and 2 other passengers suffering mostly from burn injuries.

Flight 253, with 289 passengers on board, was on a routine flight from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands to Metropolitan airport in Romulus, Michigan when suddenly with  approximately 20 minutes to go before its scheduled landing passengers noticed smoke, fire and popping noises coming from the direction of seat 19A. Panic ensued as both passengers and crew members witnessed a man’s leg on fire as well as the plane’s wall beside him.

Quickly realizing that the fire was a result of a terrorist’s attempt to bring down the plane, one of the passengers bravely moved towards the fire simultaneously trying to overpower the man while trying to extinguish the fire with his hands. Other passengers and crew members followed suit and the man from seat 19A was isolated and handcuffed.  The pilots operated an emergency landing in Detroit Metropolitan airport and the suspected passenger, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was handed immediately to U.S authorities for further questioning and medical treatment.

Several days after the incident, a terrorist group named Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, announced responsibility for the attack.