DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Talks are back on track between British authorities and the hijackers of an Afghan passenger jet. The situation intensified overnight when the plane's flight crew escaped. CNN's Richard Blystone has details from London.</s>RICHARD BLYSTONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The escape of the captain and the flight deck crew gave the hijackers a bad case of nerves and it soured the cool, business-like tone of radio negotiations. The next release of an airline steward looked more like an expulsion.</s>JOE EDWARDS, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, ESSEX POLICE: At 3:00 a.m. this morning, during this unsettled period, a man was seen to fall down some steps at the rear of the plane. He appears to have been pushed. That man is now with us, with Essex Police. He's receiving medical attention to a minor graze on his forehead. He doesn't appear to have any serious injury.</s>BLYSTONE: Police shut down the negotiators' link to the plane. And by the time it reopened to renegotiate delivery of breakfast, the tone had improved. The escape was good news to authorities.</s>MICHAEL YARDLEY, TERRORISM EXPERT: The plane now cannot take off, and so that's on the upside. And also on the upside is the improved intelligence that the authority will now have about what's going on.</s>BLYSTONE: But to those aboard the plane for a fourth day, now deprived of any comfort they might have had from legitimate authority figures, it might have looked different. (on camera): The success of the escape and the hijackers' ragged response suggests that the days are taking their toll, bearing out the British authorities' view that their best weapon here is patience. Richard Blystone, CNN, Stansted Airport outside London.
Talks Resume Between British Authorities and Hijackers of Afghan Passenger Jet After Flight Crew Escapes