The hijacker of a Cuban airliner who threatened to explode a hand grenade unless he was flown to the United States allowed about 20 passengers, including children, to leave the aircraft 12 hours into a tense standoff at Havana airport, reporters said on Tuesday. A rear door of the Cubana Airlines Antonov 24 turboprop opened twice and the passengers, among them a man carrying a baby, jumped to the tarmac and walked to a waiting bus that drove them away, Reuters reporters at the airport said. The right propeller of the twin-engined Soviet built plane then started up, but there was no indication that the aircraft was preparing to leave with the remaining people aboard. A government statement said a man holding a hand grenade hijacked a domestic flight from the Isle of Youth on the south coast of Cuba on Monday night with 46 passengers and crew aboard, and ordered the pilot to fly to the United States. Full Story
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