Valletta – Two men who hijacked a plane from Libya to Malta with fake weapons surrendered on Friday, with all the passengers and crew able to leave the aircraft unharmed.
“Hijackers surrendered, searched and taken in custody,” Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat confirmed on Twitter shortly after all the hostages were released. There were 111 passengers and six crew on board the Afriqiyah Airways A320.
Broadcast footage showed the two hijackers leaving the aircraft and lying on the ground before being arrested by soldiers. A grenade and pistol were found in possession of the Libyans and a search later yielded another pistol on board, Muscat said addressing a news conference at the end of the four-hour saga.
The government later revealed that the hijackers had used fake weapons. “Initial forensic investigations about the attempted hijack of the Air Afriqiyah flight shows that the weapons used were identical replica weapons,” a statement said.
People released from the hijacked Libyan plane at Malta International Airport, Valletta, Malta. Photo: Mark Zammit Codina/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Muscat said the Maltese authorities had made it clear to the hijackers that there would be no negotiations unless the passengers were released. The two men later requested two Maltese negotiators on board but their demand was rejected.
“We were not willing to negotiate until there was a surrender,” he said. The prime minister also rejected news reports that the two Libyans had asked for asylum on the Mediterranean island.
The passengers included 82 men, 28 women and one infant, Muscat said earlier. Women and children were among the first 25 passengers to be released, followed by another batch of 25 passengers and then the others.
The Afriqiyah Airways jet was on an internal flight from Sebha to Tripoli in Libya but was forced to divert to the Mediterranean island, where it landed at 1032 GMT.
The two hijackers had threatened to blow up the plane, according to Malta’s state television and Libyan media. The plane’s captain informed the control tower that the hijackers were threatening to blow it up with a home-made explosive device, the independent Libyan portal Alwasat reported.
In the end, one of the hijackers was seen leaving the aircraft carrying the former green Libyan flag, amid reports that they were supporters of the late Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator who was overthrown and killed in 2011.
Libya descended into chaos after Gaddafi’s ouster in an armed revolt. The oil-rich country is divided between two rival administrations: One backed by the UN in Tripoli and the other in the eastern city of Tobruk.
Last week, the Tripoli government announced regaining full control of the Mediterranean Sea city of Sirte from Islamic State, ending a military campaign that started there against the radical militia in May.
-dpa
