| Pilot And Passengers Overpower Hijacker
A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.
The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 carrying 71 passengers and a crew of eight was hijacked by a lone gunman brandishing two pistols Thursday evening shortly after it took off from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, for Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, with a planned stopover in Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania.
The hijacking alarmed Spanish officials because a trial of 29 people accused in the Madrid terrorist bombings of 2004 had begun the same day in Madrid. But the man's motives were not terrorism, rather he wanted the plane to fly to France so he could request political asylum, said Mohamed Ould Mohamed Cheikh, Mauritania's top police official.
Southern Spain's spa for soul
THERE are many roads to health, and some of them lead to Andalusia. OK, the heat doesn't exactly encourage vigorous exercise. The deep-fried squid and luscious pastries are so tempting you're likely to overindulge on calories. And, to be honest, spa resorts are few and far between. But the southern Spanish province of Andalusia is one big spa for the soul. This is a province with poetry and passion at every turn. Its palaces are sumptuous, its bullfights violent, and everywhere you'll find remnants of a glorious Islamic legacy. Castanets click and perfumed orange trees seduce. Spend lazy evenings roaming Andalusia's fabled towns and your spirit will certainly be renewed. Now that's what I call a healthy holiday. Most visitors arrive in Malaga, whose airport is crowded with northern Europeans heading to the Costa del Sol.
Spain: Passengers subdue armed hijacker
(SomaliNet) A man armed with two pistols hijacked an Air Mauritania flight Thursday but was subdued by two passengers, a Spanish official said. The plane landed safely in the Canary Islands and no one was hurt, the official said.
The senior Spanish government source said a man had been trying to commandeer the Boeing 737 to Paris. He was arrested by the civil guard after the jet landed at Gando Airport, a source said.
Jose Segura, the central government's chief representative in the Canaries, told Ser, a Spanish radio station, that the plane was carrying 71 passengers and eight crew members.
Reports differed on the hijacker's nationality, with one senior Spanish government source saying he is Moroccan and Segura describing him as Mauritanian.
6 die in Canary Islands tunnel
A group of 30 scientists and nature lovers got lost in a maze of narrow underground tunnels in Spain's Canary Islands, and six of them died after apparently suffocating, officials said Sunday. The explorers were more than a mile underground Saturday in area where gases may have seeped in, cutting off their oxygen, said Jose Andres Garcia, the island's emergency services director. Eustaquio Villalba, a spokesman for the Tenerife Friends of Nature Association, said the six likely died when they inhaled air filled with carbon dioxide. "It doesn't smell bad or of gas and causes a depletion of what little oxygen is available down there, given there is no ventilation," he said. One person who managed to make it out alerted emergency services, said Jose Miguel Ruano, Tenerife's regional government minister.
Liverpool boss determined to land Gonzalez
The Reds chief is keen to sign the Tenerife youngster in time for next season, and despite the player stating he is happy in Spain, Benitez is not ready to throw the towel in just yet.
"He's someone we knew when he was younger - now he's playing really well with Tenerife in the Spanish second division," said Benitez.
"Because I was once manager at Tenerife, I have a good relationship with their chief executive and some of their directors - and I'm talking to them about bringing the player here and paying compensation.
"We're now waiting to see if we can take the deal forward. He is a right-winger, quick and has a lot of ability."
Story by Paul Meadows for FansFC
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