25 Passangers, Mostly Women and children released from hijacked Libyan plane in Malta

  
Women and children are being released from the hijacked Libyan plane in Malta, the island’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Friday.

“First group of passengers, consisting of women and children, has so far been released now,”  

According to reports, two hijackers surrendered Friday, hours after forcing a Libyan plane to land in Malta and threatening to blow up the aircraft.

Authorities did not say whether the pair had made any demands. But one waved a green flag outside the aircraft, suggesting loyalty to the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Afriqiyah Airways Flight 8U209 was en route to the Libyan capital of Tripoli with 111 passengers aboard when hijackers diverted the plane.

The flight, an Airbus A320, took off Friday morning from Sabha, a desert city in southwestern Libya. Hijackers forced the plane to divert to Malta, some 350 kilometers (217 miles) from the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea.

After the aircraft landed late Friday morning, the Maltese military led negotiations with hijackers, who threatened to blow up the aircraft with hand grenades, Foreign Ministry spokesman Etienne St. John said.  

Shortly after a group of women was allowed to leave the plane, later, the remaining passengers and crew left, smiling and chatting as they stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat posted details of negotiations in real time on his Twitter account saying "the hijackers had surrendered" 

The hijackers are probably of Libyan nationality, Muscat told reporters after the standoff ended. The men are in custody and being interrogated, he said. Forensic tests revealed the weapons they had were replicas, Muscat said.



25 Passangers, Mostly Women and children released from hijacked Libyan plane in Malta 25 Passangers, Mostly Women and children released from hijacked Libyan plane in Malta Reviewed by getitrightnigerians on 01:33:00 Rating: 5

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