Passengers Freed from Hijacked Libyan Airliner in Malta

All passengers have been released from a hijacked Libyan airliner that landed in Malta on Friday, and the hijackers have surrendered to authorities after a standoff on the tarmac. Two Libyan men, one of whom claimed to have a grenade, hijacked the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 jet, which had 111 passengers and seven crew members on board. The flight took off from Sebha, Libya, and was bound for Tripoli. According to reports, the hijackers said they were “pro-Gaddafi,” referring to the late Libyan dictator who was killed 2011 after an uprising in that country. Upon arrival, they reportedly said they would release the 111 passengers but not the seven crew members until their demands were met. A standoff with security forces took place on the tarmac, and passengers and crew were later released from the aircraft, according to Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. “The pilot reported to the control tower in Tripoli that they were being hijacked, then they lost communication with him,” a senior Libyan security official told Reuters. “The pilot tried very hard to have them land at the correct destination but they refused.”