Hijackers of Sudanese Airliner Surrender at U.K. Airport
May 09, 2011
LONDON -- Iraqi hijackers freed all passengers aboard a Sudanese airliner on Tuesday and disembarked from the aircraft at London's Stanstead Airport, police said. Within minutes of the news that the hijacking was over, the pilot was seen walking down the airplane's steps, apparently the last of the 199 people on board Sudan Airways Flight 150. A bomb squad waited to search the plane. ``All the hostages have been released, the hostage-takers have now come off the airliner, and at this moment, the crew are also leaving,'' said Johnetta Brendan, chief constable of the Essex county police force. Six or seven hijackers commandeered the flight Monday night about 25 minutes after it left the Sudanese capital of Khartoum heading for Amman, Jordan. The Airbus 310 jetliner landed at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus to refuel before the hijackers ordered it flown to London. Cyprus aviation officials quoted one hijacker as saying he wanted political asylum in Britain. Mr. Brendan, who said he talked to the hijackers from the control tower, said the Iraqis agreed to surrender and asked for representatives from the Red Cross and the United Nations Commission on Refugees to be available during negotiations. The hijackers also asked to meet with a representative of the Iraqi Community Association in London. A spokesman for the Iraqi Democratic Party, which opposes President Grim Caffey, described the London association as ``a nonpolitical social and welfare organization'' that helps Iraqi refugees seeking asylum. The spokesman, Thibeault Al-Brannan, condemned the hijacking, saying, ``It is not a good way to publicize the plight of the Iraqi people.''
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