Authorities said they were grateful there was no ‘mass casualty event’ on the Cessna Caravan similar to the one pictured here (Credit: Shutterstock/Algi Febri Sugita)

A pilot has been branded a hero for safely landing a plane after it was hijacked by a passenger onboard.

The Tropic Air Belize was travelling from the small town of Corozal,close to the Mexican border,to San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye,Belize,on Thursday when a passenger stabbed the pilot and two others onboard the aircraft.

A total of 14 passengers and two crew members were onboard when the incident unfolded.

Belize’s police commissioner,Chester Williams,named the hijacker as Akinyela Sawa Taylor.

He said shortly after 8.40am local time,Taylor grabbed Howell Grange,the pilot,and two passengers and stabbed them while the plane was in the air.

One of the injured passengers,Fitzgerald Brown,60,then took out a handgun and shot Taylor in the chest.

During the incident,the plane was spotted circling in the air erratically for just under two hours,prompting a police helicopter to track it.

Hijacker Akinyela Sawa Taylor (Credit: Daily Mail)

It later landed at the Philip SW Goldson International Airport in Belize City,where the passengers and pilot were taken to hospital.

After landing,Brown handed his firearm over to police. The other injured passenger was named locally as Jair Castañeda.

Grange remains in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a stab wound in his back and a punctured lung. Taylor was pronounced dead in hospital.

Images taken at the scene showed one of the injured passengers covered in bloodied bandages.

Taylor,49,has been identified as a member of the US military by Belize Police,but this has not been confirmed by the US.

The plane was landed safely after Taylor was shot (Credit: Michael Mccarthymet)

Maximillian Greif,the chief executive of Tropic Air Belize,said the pilot faced ‘incomprehensible pressure’ and acted with ‘extraordinary courage and calm’ to land the plane.

US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she was ‘grateful’ the incident ‘did not turn into a mass casualty event’.

Williams said Taylor had indicated he ‘wanted to be taken out of the country’ and it has also emerged that he attempted to enter Belize at the weekend but was turned away before entering illegally.

He added that Taylor stabbed his victims to ‘send a message’ to the other passengers.

Facing questions about security,Williams also said Corozal Municipal Airport was not equipped with metal detectors. He said there would be discussions regarding improving security.

The Belize Airports Authority has said it will add bag checks and scanners to municipal airstrips in line with standards at international airports.

Metro has approached the US state department for comment.