Hijacked Libyan plane lands in Malta with 111 passengers on board

The military guards the runway at Malta airport

(Image credit: Matthew Mirabelli/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 23 December 2016

A domestic Libyan flight from Sebha to Tripoli was diverted to Malta on Friday, and Maltese media is reporting that there are two hijackers aboard with grenades, threatening to blow the plane up. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said there are 111 passengers on board, including one infant, and that security services are "coordinating operations."

The airport authority on the tiny island nation 300 miles north of Libya said all emergency teams have been dispatched to deal with the "unlawful interference," and all fights to Malta have been diverted. Muscat said at about 2:40 p.m. local time (8:40 a.m. in New York) that almost all the passengers had been evacuated. There is no word on what the hijackers want or why they seized control of the plane. The airplane, an Airbus A320, is operated by Libyan state-owned Afriqiyah Airways. (This article has been updated throughout.)

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.