A photo taken on December 23, 2016 shows the hijacked Airbus A320
operated by Afriqiyah Airways after it landed at Luqa Airport, in Malta.
The plane is said to carrying 118 people including seven crew members.
AFP PHOTO | MATTHEW MIRABELLI
By AFP
In Summary
Hijackers diverted a plane belonging to Libya's national
carrier to the Mediterranean island of Malta on Friday, the Libyan
government confirmed.
The Afriqiyah Airways plane, which was heading from Sabha in
southern Libya to the capital Tripoli, was re-directed and landed at
Valletta, a source from Libya's unity government told AFP, asking not to
be named.
"Negotiations are underway to guarantee the security of all the
passengers," the source said, without specifying who was negotiating.
Maltese government sources said there were 118 people on board the plane, including seven crew.
An Afriqiyah Airways source said two hijackers had threatened
the pilots with an explosive device, probably a grenade, forcing them to
head for Malta instead of landing at Tripoli's Mitiga airport.
The hijackers have not yet been identified, the source added.
Libya has been rocked by chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
Only local airlines — banned from European airspace — operate in
Libya, with flights to Tunis, Cairo, Amman, Istanbul and Khartoum
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