Jasper Schuringa’s vacation with friends in Miami is about to get a lot less vacation-like. The Dutch man is being hailed a hero for jumping into action when a 23-year-old Nigerian man attempted to set off explosives as the Northwest flight approached the Detroit airport Christmas Day. Schuringa suffered burns on his hands as he tried to put out a fire that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly set.
Schuringa made it to Miami, where CNN caught up with him. Around 1:20pmET he took part in a nearly 8-minute interview with anchor Fredricka Whitfield. During the interview, you could hear a bit of a commotion off camera and more than once Schuringa tried to wrap up the interview, but Whitefield kept asking questions, so he kept answering.
CNN confirms with TVNewser they paid to license a cell phone picture of the suspect that was used during the interview. Insiders tell us other networks are vying to buy the image for upwards of $10,000. Some news outlets, including CBSNews.com, are embedding CNN’s interview with Schuringa. [We did too, after the jump].
Surely, Shuringa wasn’t the only hero on board. In fact, he credited the flight attendants for their quick action. In the coming days, expect to hear from more passengers and perhaps see more images of the incident. But for now, CNN is going to make the most of their exclusive on TV and online. Jasper Schuringa just may not have as much beach time as he’d hoped.
Click continued to see Whitfield’s interview with Schuringa…
>More: Tonight, NBC “Nightly News” and ABC “World News” used the CNN image. ABC also used a portion of CNN’s Schuringa interview.