Fear as four Israelis terrorise Nairobi plane

One of the four Israeli’s took over the flight intercom announcing that they had taken over the plane They ordered passengers to follow their instructions as they subjected them to forced filming

Passengers travelling from Ukunda in Kwale to Wilson Airport in Nairobi had a turbulent ride after four Israelis took over the plane and harassed them.

The Nairobian has established that the four individuals subjected passengers to mental anguish through forced filming and threats.

Peeter Altpere, one of the passengers told The Nairobian that the four rowdy Israelis boarded flight SAX 540 at 12.15pm from Ukunda.

The four  had previously been seen taking videos after the flight was delayed for one hour besides praying, according to the passenger,  “using Israeli praying tools,” including wearing the Jewish black prayer band called Tefillin, a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, the central reference of Judaism.

When time came to board the plane, they “rushed and took the front row seats facing the cockpit and started interacting with the cabin crew. One of them was a woman, after which the flight took off and the crew started serving snacks,” recalls Peeter, adding that one of the two Israelis entered the cockpit and remained there for some time.

“One of them came out and took over the inflight intercom, and made an announcement that they were taking over the plane and that all passengers should follow their instructions,” narrated Peeter.

A female passenger who took pictures of the goings-on using her cell phone told The Nairobian on condition of anonymity that passengers were scared stiff “fearing for their lives.”

They kept asking the crew whether they were fine, “before some two seated Israelis rose and started taking pictures and filming passengers, which was not communicated before boarding the flight in Ukunda… the crew watched us and did not take any action,” recalls the woman who was on vacation in Ukunda, adding that “passengers should not be subjected to such fears in this age of terrorism.”

When the Israelis realised that passengers were not co-operating, they stopped filming just before the plane landed at around 1:30pm. The Israelis did come out of the plane.

The passengers reported the matter to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) security office duty officer Norbert Senerwa who filed the complaint with Kenya Civil Aviation (KCA) and took them to SAX 540 operation office to lodge more complaints.

Senerwa confirmed the story saying, “I am aware of the incident. They reported to me and I took them to Kenya Civil Aviation Office which deals with matters that arise when passengers are on board a flight and also SAX 540.”

Contacted by The Nairobian, George Kivindyo, a director at SAX 540 issued a statement to the effect that: “It has come to our attention that passengers aboard flight 06/02 from Ukunda to Wilson felt harassed after a group of filmmakers took control of the PA system, made some jokes about taking control of the aircraft and claimed they were permitted to seat in the cockpit. Our crew allowed this to happen, they were overwhelmed by the situation and by the time they took full control the damage was already done.”

Kivindyo’s statement continued to say that: “We would like to take full responsibility and sincerely apologise. It was not our intention to cause panic and disgruntlement of passengers. This is not a usual occurrence on board any of our flights and we shall ensure this does not happen again in the presence of our valued clients. We will ensure total compliance to our safety regulations. Our sincere apologies.”