MUSCAT: There were loud noises inside the cockpit, but I could not confirm whether they were gunshots or not. We could hear the hijacker saying that he will kill us. He kept a crew member at gunpoint. We all were terrified.

These were the words of Osman Gani from Oman, one of the passengers on board of hijacked Biman flight.

Osman had arrived in Dhaka on Sunday morning from Oman and had boarded the 4pm Biman flight to fly to Chittagong.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Flight 147 had been traveling to Dubai from Dhaka via Chittagong.

A passenger, identified by the police as Mohammed Polash Ahmed, tried to storm the cockpit about 15 minutes after takeoff, forcing the pilot into making an emergency landing in Chittagong, where the plane had been scheduled to make a stop.

“My seat was midway through the aircraft. About 15-17 minutes after the plane took off, I saw a man carrying a backpack walking from the rear end of the plane to the cockpit. Soon after he entered the cockpit, we heard loud noises,” Osman told Dhaka Tribune.

“Meanwhile, a female flight attendant stepped out from the cockpit and asked the other flight attendants to help her. The flight attendants were standing at the rear end of the plane. They looked frightened. The hijacker stepped out and pulled the flight attendant and held her under gunpoint. We all were terrified,” Osman added.

Osman said there were loud noises inside the cockpit, but he could not confirm they were gunshots.

When the plane landed at Chittagong Airport, everyone unfastened their seatbelts and tried to run to the rear exit.

Osman Gani, Passenger from Oman

“I did not see a gun. I have never heard a gunshot in my life, but there were several loud noises,” Osman added.

The eyewitness said the aircraft was constantly changing altitude and further terrifying the passengers.

He said some passengers were crying and praying.

“When the plane landed at Chittagong Airport, everyone unfastened their seatbelts and tried to run to the rear exit. Suddenly, the hijacker shouted, ‘Nobody stands up, or I will shoot’. So, the crew asked us to remain calm,” Osman added.

According to Osman, the hijacker was threatening to shoot at them.

“Suddenly, two doors on both sides of the fuselage opened up and people began to stream through them. Some just leaped. When I reached a door, I saw a ladder approaching the exit. There were two fire trucks and dozens of firemen, police, and army outside,” Osman said.

The aircraft made an emergency landing in Chittagong, special forces troops stormed the plane and shot the hijacker after he refused to surrender.

Mohammad Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, a Bangladeshi police force comprised of military personnel, said in an interview that investigators had taken Ahmed’s fingerprint and matched it in a criminal database.

New York Times quoting a local police commissioner, Mahabubor Rahman, reported that the pistol was a fake.

And on Monday, Mohibul Haque, the secretary of Bangladesh’s civil aviation and tourism ministry, would not confirm that Ahmed was carrying a weapon — real or fake — of any kind.

Officials said that during the standoff, the suspect told army officials that he wanted to speak with his wife and Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina had been in Chittagong, earlier on Sunday, but returned to Dhaka before the hijacking attempt took place, the Dhaka Tribune said.

M. Naim Hassan, the chairman of Bangladesh’s Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters that Ahmed appeared “mentally imbalanced” based on his behavior.

Moniruzzaman, a police officer in Ahmed’s home district who goes by only one name, said in an interview that he was known locally “as a cheater.”

“He used to take money from people, making promises that he would send them abroad for work, or he would give them a job in the country,” Moniruzzaman said.

Ahmed died before reaching a Chittagong hospital, officials said.

It was unclear as of Monday how he had managed to board the flight, a Boeing 737-800, with what looked like a gun. – (With input from agencies )