(CNN) -- Police in Jamaica have captured an armed man who had barged onto a passenger jet at an airport, robbed passengers and held six crew members hostage Monday, Jamaica Information Minister Daryl Vaz said.
The gunman, described by Vaz as "mentally challenged," seized the Boeing 737 late Sunday at Sangster International Airport in the resort city of Montego Bay and demanded passage to Cuba.
The CanJet Airlines flight had flown in from Halifax, Canada, and had made a scheduled landing at Montego Bay. It was scheduled to continue on to Santa Clara, Cuba.
The aircraft was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, said Kent Woodside, the airline's vice president. The passengers, all Canadian, were released along with two crew members by the gunman earlier Monday.
The gunman fired a shot in the boarding bridge to the plane as he entered, Woodside said.
He then took an undisclosed number of passengers and crew members hostage, said Elizabeth Scotton, a spokeswoman for the company that manages the airport.
All but six were released unhurt.
Two of the six crew members who remained inside the plane Monday locked themselves in the cockpit, Vaz said.
Among those negotiating with the man were his father and Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who flew in by helicopter. The country's minister of national security also was at hand.
"We are relieved that all the passengers involved in this incident are safe as well as two crew members, and our top priority is to provide the safe release of the remaining crew members," Woodside said.
The passengers were taken to a hotel, Vaz said. The airport was shut down.
Christian Gosselin, a passenger on the flight, told his father that the gunman demanded cash from the plane's occupants. Vaz confirmed the account.
"The guy wanted to have all their money," said Gosselin's father, Alphonse. "He (my son) told his girlfriend to take all the money and just take her passport and credit card and put it in her back pocket."
Christian Gosselin was part of a 25-person wedding party. He and his girlfriend were released by the hostage-taker, and they spoke to his father in New Brunswick, Canada, while waiting for another flight.
"I didn't ask them too many questions; I was more concerned for their safety," the father said. "They were a bit shaken up. It was quite an experience."
Another passenger, Brenda Grenier, called her husband and said the man apparently got aboard the plane as airport workers were loading bags.
Grenier and her daughter were safe, her husband said by phone from his home in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Regards,
Arno
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