CanJet Flight 918

CanJet Flight 918 (CJA 918, C6 918) was a flight that was scheduled to take off from Sangster International Airport (MBJ), Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 19 April 2009, bound for Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ), Halifax, Canada, but was instead seized before takeoff for hours by an armed, lone hijacker. This was likely the fourth hijacking on Jamaican soil, and the second time a Canadian airliner had been hijacked.

Hijacking

The flight was operated by a nine year old Boeing 737-800 built in 2000, with the registration of C-FTCZ by the Canadian airline CanJet. Carrying 174 passengers and 8 crew, all Canadian, the plane was originally scheduled to leave MBJ at 11:00pm on 19 April 2009, due for arrival at YHZ at 7:15am the following day. However, at 10:30pm, Flight 918 was boarded by a lone, armed hijacker – 20-year-old Stephen Fray of Montego Bay, calling himself "Rico" – who gained access to the plane brandishing a firearm and demanded to be taken to Cuba so he could defect there. The passengers were soon released, as a flight attendant had convinced Fray to allow the passengers to leave in exchange for money. However, he still held five crew members hostage while negotiations continued. According to CNN, Fray's father and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, were both flown in by helicopter to assist in the negotiating process.

Following the breakdown of negotiations, the police were ordered to take the aircraft, and, at approximately 6:40am, the Jamaica Defence Force Counter Terrorism Operations Group members stormed Flight 918 and took the gunman into custody. Two special operations operatives entered through the cockpit window and replaced the copilot, while one of the operatives, impersonating the copilot, met with and overpowered the hijacker, who was reported to be "mentally challenged."