Man recounts ordeal of stopping 'underwear bomber'

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- On Dec. 25, 2009, Theophilus Maranga was on a plane flying home to America to be with his family on Christmas.

He finally made it back to his Fishkill, N.Y., home, but not before helping stop a terror attempt that made international news and left him and 288 others alive. Last week he filed a lawsuit against the man involved in the attempt and the airlines for injuries he sustained during the incident.

Maranga, 53, a lawyer and Ghana native who works in New York on international business matters and immigration issues, said he has fears about flying. He spoke with the Poughkeepsie Journal at his home Saturday about what happened.

A man seated a few rows ahead had tried to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear. The attempt failed, but left flames rising from him and several men jumping on him and struggling to put out the fire.

"I was coming from Ghana," he said. "I was eager to come home." Maranga was to rejoin his family for the holiday and searched out whatever flights would get him home. "I ended up in Amsterdam, to Detroit, and to New York."

It was on the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight on Northwest Airlines, now part of Delta Air Lines, that the incident happened.

"We were ready to land. The pilot said the crew should get prepared for landing." He heard a sharp sound.

"I thought it was like lighting a firecracker. I thought somebody was popping champagne because it was Christmas Day. It was a big noise that would alarm everybody.

"I heard people saying, 'Oh, what's he doing?' I looked in front of me and I saw fire. I jumped up. I don't even know how I even got up and jumped on the guy."

The man's name turned out to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who pleaded guilty and is in prison awaiting sentencing Jan. 19. He has since requested a new lawyer. That request will be heard in a Detroit court Jan. 6.

Abdulmutallab had pulled down his pants, Maranga said.

"He had covered himself with blankets. He was seriously injured. The bomb did not work the way he intended.. .. I think by the grace of God I'm sitting here," Maranga said.

He recalls that at least four people also jumped on Abdulmutallab and that the man did not fight or struggle.

"We were struggling to put the fire out," Maranga said. "He, himself, was very very calm."

Maranga had stains on his jacket from the conflict. He gave the jacket to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which handled the incident. His pants were also torn.

Maranga said that at the time, passengers didn't know what was happening, only that there was a man in flames in a closed space from which there is no escape.

Fear spread among those who did see. Maranga said some of the people were crying and shouting.

How did he feel?

"Terrible," Maranga said. "I thought we were done."

The plane landed and the FBI kept everyone for seven hours, he said, interviewing every adult and inspecting all baggage. Maranga came home after getting a flight from Detroit to New Windsor, N.Y.

Maranga said his business made him a frequent flier overseas, but since the incident he has flown only once.

"My feelings of travel on an enclosed plane where there is no escape bring me memories of that."

He declined, because of the lawsuit, to go in to details about how he copes with the emotional impact, but said "I'm still working on it."

On Wednesday, Maranga's attorney, Neil Grimaldi of New York, began a lawsuit in federal court against Abdulmutallab, Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM asking $10 million in damages.

In a telephone interview Friday, Grimaldi said Maranga was a hero for his act and had not been properly compensated by the airlines, whom he blamed for allowing Abdulmutallab to board even though there were reasons to stop him, including that he had no baggage "and he's coming to Detroit without a coat."

Maranga tried to get compensation through a federal program, but got only $400.

The airlines did not respond to requests for comment.

The Poughkeepsie Journal is owned by Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY.