Mexico City, Sep 10 (DPA) Police stormed a hijacked plane Wednesday in Mexico minutes after the hijackers released all passengers and the crew from the aircraft.
Several people were arrested, according to media reports.

Earlier, authorities had said that three unidentified attackers had hijacked the plane. The three men threatened to detonate a bomb and demanded to talk with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Mexican media reported.

The plane, a Boeing 737 operated by the airline Aeromexico, was hijacked after taking off from the famous resort city of Cancun, in southeastern Mexico. It then landed at Mexico City airport, where it remained isolated on a runway.

Eduardo Rivadeneyra, spokesman for the firm that operates Cancun airport, said the plane had come in from Bolivia and left Cancun with 76 people on board. Other sources said it was carrying 104 passengers.

Passengers only knew of the hijacking after the plane landed, and they reportedly saw only one hijacker. He looked like “a normal, well-dressed passenger”, passenger Rocio Garcia told Mexican television after her release.

“We did not immediately know what happened. It was all confusion, and then they told us that the plane was being hijacked by one person,” Garcia said.

Adriana Romero, another released passenger, disagreed, noting that there was no panic.

“When we landed we were told to remain seated,” she said.

At the time, they were told that the plane was being hijacked and that negotiations were ongoing, she said.

She described the hijacker as “a well-off man”.

“He wears a good watch, a good shirt,” Romero observed. “He often stood up to take things out of his suitcase.”

Mexican Communications and Transport Minister Juan Molinar Horcasitas told Mexican radio that Mexico City airport was operating normally.