Sudan plane hijacked after Darfur takeoff
KHARTOUM (AFP)
A Sudanese passenger jet was hijacked on Tuesday shortly after takeoff from Nyala, the largest town in the country's war-torn Darfur region, and was heading for Libya, an airline employee said.
"The plane took off from Nyala at 4:40 pm (1340 GMT) en route to Khartoum," an employee in the domestic Sun Air company told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"After 20 minutes the pilot called Nyala airport to tell him the plane had been hijacked and that he is en route to Tripoli in Libya," the employee said, refusing to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Hamza Hasan, head of security at the airline, said there were 87 passengers on board the Boeing 737.
Sun Air officials had no immediate information on who was behind the hijacking.
Hasan warned that the plane was short on fuel, charging that the plane headed for Libya after being refused permission to land at Cairo.
"After it was hijacked, the plane tried to land at Cairo airport but the authorities refused to allow it to land and now it is en route to Libya," Hasan told AFP by telephone in Khartoum.
He said the Libyan authorities had given permission for the plane to land.