Investigations are now underway in Europe and the United States after a Nigerian engineering student attempted to set off a Christmas day bomb aboard Northwest Flight #253.    CNN reports there were no air marshalls aboard the flight.   Saving the plane is due to the bravery of one passenger, Jasper Schuringa, a video director who lives in Amsterdam.

The New York Daily News reports Schuringa smelled something burning as the plane was preparing for arrival in Detroit.  As other passengers screamed and panicked, Schuringa crawled over a seat and noticed that had his pants open and something burning between his legs.

"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," Schuringa said.

He said he then screamed for water and pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.

Schuringa told CNN that Abdulmutallab seemed out of it and "was staring into nothing."

To ensure the suspect did not have other explosives on his body, Schuringa stripped off Abdulmutallab's clothes. He then handcuffed the alleged attacker with the help of a crew member.