British police negotiators at Stansted Airport yesterday were reported to be continuing to talk to and attempting to build up trust with the hijackers on board the Afghan aircraft in the standoff which has now entered its fourth day. The atmosphere on board the Ariana Boeing 727 aircraft for the 151 passengers was described as "businesslike and calm" by the Assistant Chief Constable of Essex, Mr John Broughton, following a night of dramatic developments on Tuesday when four crew members escaped through a cockpit window. A fifth crew member was seen stumbling from the aircraft later. "We are building up good relationships, very positive relationships, and going about building the trust that is so necessary in this sort of situation," Mr Broughton said.
"These negotiations are very complex, and our priority is to facilitate a safe exit so that no one ends up getting hurt."
He said police were not aware of any request for asylum by the hijackers and that they were following a "routine" of delivering food and refuelling the aircraft generator while conducting "positive" negotiations for a peaceful conclusion to the crisis.
According to Assistant Chief Constable Joe Edwards, one of the hijackers had been seen walking around on the tarmac beside the plane, carrying a pistol.
He also told a press conference that he was concerned that some of the speculative reports suggesting that the hijackers were there simply to seek asylum might lead them towards some drastic action to prove otherwise.
Talks with the hijackers continued uninterrupted, apart from a two-hour sleeping break in the early morning. But because of the "delicate nature" of the negotiations, police would not reveal any details.
Debriefings continued during the day between police and the five members of the crew who left the aircraft on Tuesday night and yesterday morning.
"It is a very long and complicated process," Mr Broughton told The Irish Times. "It is like trying to put the pieces of a jigsaw together, and we have to cross-reference the pieces of information we get about the situation on board and get them verified."
He said the crew had been examined by doctors and were in good health and they had been allowed to rest before being debriefed.
The lack of any dramatic activity during the day was in contrast to the unexpected events of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. That drama began at about 10.45 p.m. on Tuesday when four members of the crew including the pilot, co-pilot, first officer and flight engineer launched an audacious escape plan.
Using a rope or an improvised ladder, the four climbed through the co-pilot's window in the cockpit before jumping about 20 feet to the tarmac below. They were then seen running a few yards toward the airport's perimeter fence before being picked up by Essex police officers and brought to safety.
Their actions, which police said they did not believe breached any guidelines ensuring a crew remains with its passengers in a hijack situation, did raise tension among the hijackers. Mr Edwards told reporters yesterday morning that the escape had "upset the calm atmosphere" on the aircraft for a time, during which the hijackers began shouting at passengers.
"We have been working to restore that calm. There's obviously tiredness and some frustration among those on board," he said.
The next development came at about 3 a.m. yesterday when a fifth crew member was seen stumbling down a flight of stairs at the rear of the aircraft, but he suffered only minor bruising.
The negotiations with the hijackers, Mr Edwards said, were "up and down" immediately following the escape of the crew members.
"I understand that is the part where they were most tired and frustrations were most likely to set in. You can imagine their reactions when they discovered that the flight crew had gone."