Gregory Bull AP Mexican network TV Azteca says the plane was carrying 104 passengers. Share Print Share
Jose Marc Flores Pereira, 44, a Bolivian who has lived in Mexico for 17 years, told police he was spurred to give the warning Wednesday because its date — 09/09/09 — is the inverse of 666, which many believe to be the numerical sign of the Antichrist, said Genaro Garcia Luna, the public security secretary.
After failing to gain access to the cockpit of Aeromexico Flight 576 — flying from Cancun to Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon — Flores told pilots he had a bomb and ordered them to circle above the Mexican capital seven times. The pilots warned Flores that they didn't have enough fuel for that and convinced him to let them land the plane.
Flores said he would blow up the plane unless he was able to speak with Calderon. The plane was directed to a remote area of the airport upon landing about 1:40 p.m. Flores released the 104 passengers on board about 40 minutes later and then surrendered without incident to federal police.
Flores did not have a bomb or any other weapon, Mexican Transportation Secretary Juan Molina told reporters. He had fashioned a fake bomb out of tin cans, police said.
Passengers told Mexican media that they were unaware a hijacking had occurred until they landed in Mexico City. Some said they received calls on their cell phones from worried relatives and others said they were alerted to the incident when the plane was surrounded by police.
“People didn't know what was happening until the end,” said Salvador Osorio, a Cancun merchant, who was seated in the tail of the plane. Several passengers said Flores was walking the aisle clutching a Bible during the hijacking.
Calderon was informed of the hijacking while the flight was still en route to Mexico City. He apparently didn't have any contact with the hijacker.
“What a scare, right?” Calderon told Mexican reporters traveling with him on a later flight to the southern city of Campeche soon after the hijacking was resolved. “Fortunately it turned out well.”
Hardened by gangland violence that has claimed more than 12,000 lives in less than three years, Mexicans shook off the hijacking almost as soon as it was resolved.
One Mexican radio station aired a humorous song making light of the incident less than four hours after it ended.
“It wasn't al-Qaida or anything else,” the singer warbled. “It was a Bolivian pest.”
dudley.althaus@chron.com
File photo of an Aeroméxico, Boeing 737. 
The Mexican government has said that an Aeroméxico Boeing-737, flight 576 from Cancun, was hijacked and landed safely at Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City.

The plane was traveling from Cancun to Mexico City. The situation ended without incident and all passengers and crew on board the aircraft were able to leave safely. All hijackers were arrested after Mexican security forces boarded the plane.

The incident began just after 1:30 p.m. (CDT) one man took control of the plane and demanded to speak to Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president. The hijacker said that if his demand was not met, he would blow up the plane. Earlier reports had stated there were explosives on board the aircraft, but none were found. Five people were initially detained without incident.

A short time later, four of the detained men were released without being charged. Authorities identified the sole hijacker as Jose Mar Flores, 44, who is being described as an alcoholic, drug addicted, religious fanatic. He claims he was on a mission to warn Mexico that an earthquake was going to strike the country. Flores said that the significance of the date, 9/9/09, the reverse of 666, was the reason why he hijacked the plane. Reports say he was carrying a box that he described as a bomb and would detonate it if his demand to speak to Calderon about the quake was not met.

104 people were on board the plane, but all passengers and crew aboard the aircraft have left it safely.  The airport remained open while the plane was dealt with on an emergency runway.

Calderon was inside the airport's presidential hanger waiting to depart when the plane landed.  His flight was canceled.