A gunman hijacked a small aid plane in South Sudan, terrorizing the pilot for hours before the aircraft finally landed in the northern town of Wau. Miraculously, police reports confirm that no injuries were sustained during this harrowing ordeal.

The aircraft, a Cessna Grand Caravan, was operated by the U.S.-based Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse. It had taken off from Juba, the capital, loaded with medical supplies aimed at helping those in need in Maiwut. But then, chaos ensued! The hijacker, identified as Yasir Mohammed Yusuf, had sinisterly hidden in the rear cabin before the plane even took off!

Yusuf, who is from the Abyei Administrative Area,a hotly disputed territory between South Sudan and Sudan,attempted to divert the plane to Chad, a country that doesn’t even share a border with South Sudan! Authorities are baffled as to what his motives could possibly be.

In a dramatic twist, the pilot had to use his wits to convince the hijacker that the plane needed to refuel. This cleverly executed ploy allowed the pilot to divert the flight to Wau, where security forces were on standby to apprehend the suspect. “It was a tense situation, but we managed to ensure safety,” stated Santino Udol Mayen, the police spokesperson for Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

The gunman was spotted wearing a reflective vest marked with the logo of an air charter company operating at Juba International Airport. However, Paul Antrobus, the managing director of that company, insists they have no employee by that name.

In a brief statement after the incident, Melissa Strickland, a spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse, expressed relief at the outcome, thanking authorities for their quick response. But let’s not forget, this alarming incident follows closely on the heels of a tragic plane crash involving the same organization just days earlier, which claimed the lives of all three crew members on board.