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To: TREND1 who wrote (6876)	4/1/2003 12:11:47 PM
From: pallmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29601

-- Hijacked Cuban Plane Lands in Florida -- By Laura Myers KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - A Cuban airliner hijacked by man threatening to explode a hand grenade landed in Florida under U.S. military escort on Tuesday and was surrounded by armed officials, the Federal Aviation Authority and witnesses said. The plane, with 31 people aboard, landed shortly after 11:34 a.m. at Key West International Airport, FAA spokesman Christopher White said. Witnesses said uniformed officials approached the Cubana Airlines twin-prop Antonov 24 as other armed police pointed guns at the aircraft. Several passengers filed out with their hands in the air and lay flat on the tarmac, witnesses said. It was the second plane hijacking in two weeks by Cubans seeking to leave the communist-run island for the United States. The Cuban government said the plane originally had 46 passengers and crew aboard when it was hijacked on a domestic flight on Monday night by a man apparently armed with two grenades. The hijacker threatened to explode a grenade unless he was flown across the Florida Straits. But the plane did not have enough fuel for the trip and landed at Havana's international airport, a Cuban government statement said. After a 12-hour stand-off that closed the Havana airport to all flights, the hijacker allowed many passengers, including children, to get off the aircraft. The passengers, among them a man holding a baby, jumped out of a back door onto the tarmac and were driven away in a bus. The plane was refueled and left Havana just before 11 a.m. EST. (Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle and Marc Frank in Havana) (C) Reuters 2003. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. 01-Apr-2003 17:05:42 GMT Source RTRS - Reuters News