美国炸机未遂事件报道

Today the U.S. Justice Department officially charged a Nigerian man with trying to blow up a Delta Northwest plane just before it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day. This evening we are learning more about what happened on-board that flight including the heroic measures taken by passengers and crew in those first terrifying moments. We’re also learning more about the suspect. And given that this is one of the busiest travel times of the year, there is important new information for travelers trying to make their way back home. We’re covering this story from several angles and we begin with John Yang outside Detroit who has the latest on the investigation. John, good evening.

Good evening, Amy. Late this afternoon, in a hospital burn unit the 23-year-old suspect was arraigned on federal charges of trying to destroy an aircraft and planting a destructive device on an aircraft, both charges that can bring him up to 20 years in prison.

23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested shortly after Northwest flight 253 landed in Detroit, the flight he's now charged with trying to destroy with a sophisticated device he’d hidden on his body. For the 278 other passengers aboard the wide body jet, it was a dramatic end to a Christmas day flight.

It was terrifying. I thought, I think we all thought we weren't gonna land. We weren't gonna make it.

Abdulmutallab's route to that moment began Thursday night in his native Nigeria. He flew on KLM flight 588 from Lagos to Amsterdam. There he boarded Northwest 253 and headed for Detroit. He was in seat 19A,a window seat. When the pilot announced they were on their final approach, prosecutors say Abdulmutallab got up and went to the rest room. When he returned, he pulled a blanket over himself up to his neck.

What we heard at the beginning was a bang, it sounded at first like a balloon being popped.

Passengers said they saw flames as high as 2 feet igniting part of the cabin wall. Passengers and crew subdued him and flight attendants rushed to him with a fire extinguisher.

A minute later, there was a lady shouting back. She was saying things like "what are you doing? what are you doing?".

Abdulmutallab was taken to the front of the plane, 2 seats away from Melinda Dennis.
He was completely unemotional. There was absolutely, just so, a blank face. There was no recognition of anything occurring, you know, when you looked at him it just seemed as if he wasn't there, you know emotionally.

FBI analysts say Abdulmutallab used an explosive called PETN, widely used by the military. There are conflicting accounts about whether Abdulmutallab has claimed an Al-Qaeda connection. Although officials agree there is no solid evidence of any tie, the officials do say he was on a U.S. terrorist watch list.

You can be on a watch list, but that doesn't mean you're on the no-fly list. There are multiple lists, multiple different types of categories for terrorism databases. And in the case of this individual, he was on the lowest level watch list, but there wasn’t additional information to make him so suspicious that he was elevated to a no-fly list.

The incident has haunting echoes of Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, a British citizen and self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda operative. Reid was convicted of terrorism after trying to light the same type of explosive in his shoes aboard a flight from Paris to Miami eight years ago this week.

Two local reporters witnessed the hospital arraignment. They said they were struck by how young he looks. He appeared in a wheel chair. He was wearing a hospital gown. He spoke in English, told the judge he couldn’t afford an attorney of his own and asked the court to appoint him one. The next hearing has been set for Monday the 28th, at which time the government will seek a DNA sample. Amy.

John Yang, thank you.