Quick-thinking Dutch man foiled terrorist plot

The Christmas Day seat in aisle 19 placed him right over the fuel tanks of the jetliner and at the window, where an explosion would have maximum effect, US security experts told US broadcasters.

The 23-year-old Nigerian terrorist suspect spent 20 minutes in the bathroom as the plane entered its descent pattern into the Detroit, Michigan airport.

Then he returned to his seat complaining of a stomach ache, covered his lap with a blanket and ignited the PETN explosive strapped somewhere between his legs with a fluid injection, US justice officials indicated Saturday.

All was apparently going according to plan.

But Abdulmutallab had not reckoned with the quick-thinking response of a fellow passenger, Jasper Schuringa, a video director from Holland.

The minute the Dutch man heard the firecracker-type popping, smelled the smoke and saw the fire coming from one row ahead of him, on the opposite side of the plane, Schuringa leapt over seats and passengers to get to the source.

"I freaked of course ... because I thought he's trying to blow up the plane," Schuringa told CNN.

When he got to Abdulmutallab, he started searching his body for explosives and "took some object that was melting and smoking" from the Nigerian's body.

Schuringa waved his bandaged hand before the CNN camera to demonstrate what happened next. He used his hand to "put out the fire. Then fire started under his seat."

"I was screaming for water, water," Schuringa recalled. Cabin attendants rushed with fire extinguishers to control the flame.

But the Dutch man was not satisfied that all was under control, and along with another attendant, dragged Abdulmutallab from his seat into the first class compartment where "we stripped him to see if he had any more explosives."

They then handcuffed the Nigerian suspect to a stationary object there.

Passengers interviewed afterwards said everyone applauded as Schuringa returned to his seat before landing.

The dramatic sequence of chaos onboard the Northwest airlines plane that had departed from Schiphol airport nine hours before shook a nation that was in the midst of observing the Christian holiday, Christmas, normally a time devoted to the ideals of peace and giving.

It also recalled previous airplane heroics such as that of passengers on board the ill-fated United Airlines Flight 93 hijacked on September 11, 2001.

Terrorists were believed to have intended to crash that plane into the US capitol or White House that tragic day, but cell phone conversations by panicked passengers with loved ones on the ground indicated those plans were foiled after civilians regained control of the plane and forced a crash landing near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

All 40 passengers and crew died, but many experts say greater harm was avoided.

Likewise, when the British terrorist Richard Reid tried to set fire to his PETN-filled shoes on board an American Airlines plane from Paris to Miami in December 2001, it was passengers who physically prevented him from carrying out his plan after cabin attendants were powerless to stop him.

US justice officials on Saturday charged Abdulmutallab, who is the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, with attempting to destroy the Northwest Airlines plane and with taking a destructive device on board.

The suspect was burnt badly in the incident, and was being treated at a local university medical centre, where he was charged in a makeshift court.

The terrorist suspect had begun his journey to the US in Lagos, Nigeria. The Nigerian government said Saturday it was conducting its own investigation.

Abdulmutallab has claimed he had connections to the terrorist network al-Qaeda and terrorist groups in Yemen, The New York Times reported.

Abdulmutallab's father in Nigeria said he had tipped the US embassy six months ago about suspicions he had about his son, Nigeria's newspaper ThisDay reported.

British police have searched Abdulmutallab's apartment in London's West End, near Oxford Circus.

|Passenger screening measures have been tightened worldwide, from Britain to Taiwan, and the European Union said it would review safety rules.

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was "grateful" to the passengers and crew "who reacted quickly and heroically to an incident that could have had tragic results."

She warned international and domestic travellers to allow extra time to clear increased security. She said new measures would be "unpredictable."

Passengers told broadcasters that they were newly forbidden to leave their seats or have blankets and pillows in the final hour of the flight. Other reports said that the GPS systems often displayed on viewing screens in passenger planes were shut off to deny passengers orientation about the progress or position of the plane.