Many didn’t know what was happening and Shuringa acted instantaneously and reacted accordingly.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. “I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped,” he said.
Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. “It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs.”
“I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs.”
The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.
Schuringa yelled for water, and members of the flight crew soon appeared with fire extinguishers. Then, he said, he hauled the suspect out of the seat.
“I took him in a choke to the first class and all the people were like, ‘What’s going on?!”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/terror_hero_didn_hesitate_8oVwlYC8M0rFfwIwkjVXXM#ixzz0ao77v6H6
Thanks for providing the details of what happened. I’m certainly happy that Dutchman had the fortitude to act decisively. But what if he hadn’t been there? Could another precious seconds before anyone did anything have resulted in tragedy? I dearly hope that we as Americans truly have the courage and toughness to respond when confronted face to face with evil. I get a little annoyed by the empty machismo that is sometimes displayed on this forum, and would like to see how some of those big talkers would have responded in such a situation.