Father Gives Up After Holding Children Hostage in Helicopter

A father who held his two children hostage in a commandeered helicopter and demanded to be flown to a U.S. Air Force base in Japan was overpowered by police after a five-hour siege today at Brisbane Airport.

Police identified the man as Milomar Petrovic, 41, of Yugoslavia. They said he had recently divorced and won custody of his children.

Petrovic was grabbed after holding his 8-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter hostage and threatening to blow up fuel from a tanker near the helicopter, police said.

The children, apparently unconcerned, took snapshots and walked around their father as he fired his gun into the air.

The gunman demanded to be flown to a U.S. Air Force base in Japan but did not specify where or say why, police said.

He placed one child on top of the fuel tanker and the other at the rear of the vehicle while he emptied hundreds of gallons of aviation fuel onto the tarmac. He threatened to ignite the fuel.

Police said the tanker was carrying almost 8,000 gallons of fuel, enough to cause an explosion equivalent to a 650-pound bomb.

Police said the man had chartered a Bell 206 excursion helicopter Thursday at Sea World Park for a ride and returned to the park again today, saying he wanted to make another four-hour aerial tour with his children.

Once airborne, he displayed a shotgun and told the pilot there was a bomb aboard the craft. The helicopter landed at Brisbane, and for the next five hours, the gunman strutted around the parked fuel tanker.

While he was emptying fuel on the tarmac, the pilot managed to escape.