A Libyan
passenger plane was landed in Malta after being diverted by two hijackers
believed to be armed with hand grenades.
The Afriqiyah
Airways aircraft with about 111 passengers on board was on an internal flight
in Libya when it was hijacked and diverted
The hijackers, Mousa Shas and Ahmed Ali, between
the ages of 24 and 25 years old, loyal to former Libyan dictator Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi, seized the plane as it made an internal flight over the
African country, after which they ordered the pilot to land on the
Mediterranean island of Malta, resulting to a tense standoff with the military.
All flights to and
from Malta’s airport were cancelled or diverted during the stand-off, and
security forces gathered near the plane, which sat on the runway with its
engines still running long after it had landed.
The four-hour
standoff ended when the two men, who reportedly claimed they wanted to launch a
new political party, came out of the Afriqiyah Airways plane with a crewmember
that was their final hostage.
The hijackers eventually gave themselves up and were taken
into custody
According to Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister
of Malta, he reported “Hijackers surrendered, searched and taken in custody,” He
said on Twitter, after the passengers and crew on board were allowed to leave
the plane in batches.
As negotiations
were underway one of the hijackers told Libya’s Channel TV in a phone call that
he headed a party supporting the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and had
organized the uprising to promote the group.
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