VALLETTA – An Afriqiyah Airways flight with 118 on board has been hijacked from African nation and pleased to Malta wherever it landed this afternoon, Maltese media reported. There’s reportedly one hijacker on the plane WHO has vulnerable to amplify the airliner A320. He’s reportedly carrying grenades.
Maltese media reported that the hijacked plane had been on a domestic Libyan flight operated by Afriqiyah Airways. The craft had been flying from Sebha in southwest African nation to Tripoli and had 111 passengers, together an infant, and 7 crew.
“The pilot reported to the tower in Tripoli that they were being hijacked, then they lost communication with him,” a senior security official at the airport said
A negotiating team is on standby at the airport awaiting directions from the PM, who is in meeting with National Security Committee, according Associated Press.
The Malta airport authority said all emergency groups had been sent to the location of what it referred to an “unlawful interference” on the airport tarmac. The plane’s engines were still running.
Malta International Airport tweeted: “MIA confirms there’s an unlawful interference at the airpot. Emergency groups dispatched”.
Flights from Brussels, London and Paris had been thanks to land at the airport on weekday.
Libya has been in a very state of chaos since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi left fighting militias battling for management of various elements of the country.
Forces loyal to a fledgling national unity government recently took management of the coastal town of Sirte, that had been a bastion for the ISIS since June 2015.
Western powers have stapled their hopes of containing jihadism within the energy-rich North African state on the govt however it’s did not establish its authority over all of the country.