Блог учителя англійської мови Скорнякової М.Є.

SHERLOCK HOLMES CLUB: Hijacking

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Hijacking
Investigated by Anna Gaisha, 11b

  C R I M E

  Ethiopian Airlines flight 951 is on routine trip from Addis Ababa to the Ivory Coast.

  The captain is Thomas Bell. He’s an extremely experienced pilot; he has more than 11,000 hours of flying.

  Ethiopian flight 951 will stop in Nairobi, Brazzaville and Lagos before it reaches its final destination of Abidjan. The plane has just enough fuel for the first leg of the trip; it will get more in Nairobi. Less fuel on board makes the plane lighter, increasing its efficiency.

  Captain Thomas and his co-pilot Jeffry expect their work day to be over in about 12 hours when they land in the Ivory Coast.

  Passengers on board are mix of Ethiopians and travelers from other countries flying for business and pleasure.

  Witness: I wanted a daytime flight because it was safer so I picked Ethiopian Airlines which had a good reputation.

  All the passengers are on the board, flight 961 is carrying a hundred and seventy five people.

  As the plane climbs into the sky three Ethiopian men have settled into their seats. All are in their mid-twenties. The plane is bound for Nairobi but it is not where these passengers are planning to go.

  The plane is flying at 12,000 meters when the three young Ethiopians make their move…

  Witness: I heard a noise at the back. Somebody was shouting and when I looked back, one of the hijackers was running up towards the front, pushing the air hostesses away.

  Witness: There were two guys zipping down the plane, telling something incomprehensible.

  Witness: Initially we sort of just looked at each other and wondered what was going on.

  Witness: There was some kind of noise in the cabin and I heard the cockpit door slamming.

  Witness: Passengers near the front of the plane are concerned, but have no idea what going on.

  Nervous and uncertain passengers wait to see what happens next.

  After half an hour the hijackers come to the public address system and they make an announcement that they have taken over the plane and if anybody tries to do anything against them they have one bomb and they are going to blow it up. The announcement is made in three languages.

  The hijackers make a very unusual request to fly to Australia, but the passengers do not know about it yet. One hour later the plane is landed on water. The aircraft is out of order but owing to the pilot’s professionalism, every single passenger survives. Unfortunately, the captain is found dead. Three passengers are gone though. They have just disappeared. Obviously, the hijackers are running away from justice.

  I N V E S T I G A T I O N

  In a few minutes the rescue team arrived. The passengers were sent to the land where they were temporary placed n the local hotel and where they got medical help.

  Three investigating teams arrived to find out what exactly happened during the flight 951.

  Their first aim was to find flight recorders (an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents).

Two submarines were looking for the recorders for three hours. When they were got out of the water, the chief investigator Josh Jefferson and his assistants started analyzing the recordings. They found out that the jet took off with just three and a half hours worth of fuel but the hijackers didn’t know that. They had been reading the in-flight magazine which told them that maximum flying time was 11 hours.

“We do not have enough fuel. We can go to Nairobi or Zanzibar and then refuel and then go to Australia”- the pilot explained.

“There are 11 of us. If you don’t do what we say we’ll blow up the plane out of the sky”- the terrorists responded.

“Here the pilot faces confusing situation. If he does what they say his plane will crash in the ocean. If he does not, they say they’ll blow it out of the sky”- states the chief investigator.

Now the investigating team knew the hijackers’ goal.

The second team found the evidence: they collected all passports so that they could compare documents to the passengers’ information in the computer system; also they collected thrust and cutting objects and a black bag where the bomb supposed to be. The team was especially interested in fire axe and fire extinguisher that were found in a cockpit part. The extinguisher was not used and the recording did not show that the pilot had tried to use it. The investigators asked the passengers to issue a photo fit picture. After checking the fingerprints and comparing them to the passengers’ information, the investigators found three main suspects. What is more important, two of them exactly fit the witnesses’ description. The hijackers could not leave the island in such short amount of time. Local police were informed immediately; the investigators were checking the area. Finally, three offenders were found hiding in the basement of deserted house not that far from the shore.

P U N I S H M E N T

They were arrested and the case was brought to the court. Due to the threatening, exposing innocent people to danger, attacking and hijacking the aircraft, the hijackers were sentenced to life imprisonment.