By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

As many Americans were exchanging gifts and visiting family late Christmas morning, terror was averted over the skies of Detroit, thanks in large part to the actions of the passengers and crew aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

After departing Amsterdam at 8:45 local time, the flight made its way across the Atlantic and was just minutes from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport when 23-year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite an incendiary device he carried onto the plane. Upon seeing smoke and flames and hearing crackling noises, passengers and flight attendants apprehended Abdulmutallab, holding him at the front of the aircraft for the final minutes of the flight.

Once on the ground, the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300 twinjet carrying 278 passengers, 8 flight attendants and 3 pilots was surrounded by police, FBI and emergency vehicles. Abdulmutallab was taken to University of Michican hospital in Ann Arbor to be treated for what an anonymous official described as “severe burns.” According to the University of Michigan Health System, Abdulmutallab has, as of Dec. 27, been moved out of their facilities to a secure location.

Umar Abdulmutallab is one of 16 children of Umaru Abdul Mutallab, a former high-ranking Nigerian government official, and retired chairmen of several of the nation’s largest banks. Mutallab is one of Nigeria’s most prominent and respected businessmen, sitting on the boards of numerous major corporations. According to statements released by the family, the suspect’s father contacted Nigerian security officials, as well as those American officials at the U.S. embassy in Nigeria in an attempt to locate his son, who had severed ties with his family following his graduation from the University of Central London, and who Mutallab thought might be involved in some form of Islamic extremism.

Of the 289 people on board the plane, there were no fatalities and just two injuries aside from those sustained by the suspect. Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director seated near Abdulmutallab, was treated for minor burns after climbing over rows of seats to reach the suspect in an attempt to disarm the device. When it became apparent that the fire was getting worse, Schuringa removed the suspect from his seat as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to suppress the flames. Schuringa is receiving praise for his actions, which he says were a natural response to what he noticed happening. “I just jumped. I didn’t think. I went over there and tried to save the plane,” Schuringa said.

It is not yet clear whether  Abdulmutallab was acting independently, or if he has ties to terrorist groups. Immediately after finding out about the attempted bombing, American law enforcement focused their efforts on ensuring that other flights were safe, and that there were not plans in place for simultaneous attacks. Abdulmutallab has claimed to have acted as an agent of al Qaeda, though FBI officials have not confirmed the accuracy of this statement.

Although Abdulmutallab’s entry to the United States came by way of the Netherlands, his trip began with a flight from Lagos, Nigeria to Amsterdam. As such, Abdulmutallab was first screened by airport security in Lagos, where closed-circuit footage shows him with a single carry-on bag from the time he entered the airport to boarding. In Amsterdam, Abdulmutallab again passed through security checkpoints, including metal detectors and baggage scanners. According to BBC News, the Netherlands will have full-body scanners in place at security checkpoints for all U.S.-bound flights within the next three weeks. Nigeria plans to start using similar machines some time next year.

It is presently unclear why Abdulmutallab was permitted to board a plane to the United States in the first place, given his father’s warnings that his son might pose a threat to American security. President Barack Obama, who spent Christmas in Hawaii with his family, was kept up-to-date on the situation. “There was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potentially catastrophic breach of security,” Obama stated. He continued, “There were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together,” calling the oversight “totally unacceptable.”