Posted on 01/24/2007 12:13:08 AM PST by HAL9000
SUDANESE PLANE HIJACKED AT KHARTOUM AIRPORT BY GUNMAN, DIVERTED TO CHAD'S CAPITAL N'DJAMENA - AN OFFICIAL SAYS
KHARTOUM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Sudanese passenger plane has been hijacked in Khartoum by an unknown gunman who diverted the plane to the Chadian capital N'Djamena, an airline official said on Wednesday."There are 103 people on board," said Ahmed Salih, commercial manager of the Air West airline which operates the Boeing 737 plane.
"It was hijacked at 09:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will arrive in N'Djamena at 11:00 a.m.," he said.
"So far there is one hijacker with an AK-47 machine gun," he said. He added there were no other demands made by the hijacker, whose identity is unknown.
~ snip ~
That's a possibility.
Or maybe they stormed the plane on the tarmac. I think I've found the airport on Google Earth, but I don't see any SkyBridges at the terminal.
Or maybe their security is just lousy, and it's possible to board with an AK-47.
ALARM - a diverted Sudanese plane landed in Djamena
DJAMENA - An airliner diverted Wednesday morning with the top of the Sudanese territory landed shortly after 09H30 local (08H30 GMT) on the international airport of the Chadian capital Djamena, noted a journalist of AFP.
DJAMENA - An airliner diverted Wednesday morning above the Sudanese territory landed shortly after 09H30 (08H30 GMT) on the international airport of the Chadian capital Djamena, brought back a journalist of AFP.The apparatus, a Boeing 737 with the colors of the Sudanese company Air West, was immobilized in end of track, where it was encircled by Chadian troops.
The apparatus had been diverted earlier in the morning above Sudan then diverted on Djamena, had indicated before to AFP a Chadian governmental source.
A Chadian military source specified in AFP that the plane had been diverted by only one hijacker. 110 people are on board apparatus, added this source.
ALARM - passengers get out of the diverted plane
DJAMENA - Several tens of passengers are gotten out of the plane from the Sudanese company Air West diverted Wednesday morning on the airport from the Chadian capital Djamena by an armed man, brought back a journalist of AFP.
CNN - Hijacker seeking asylum at the French Embassy
The hijacker of the stopped diverted Sudanese plane
DJAMENA - The hijacker which hijacked Wednesday morning a plane of the Sudanese company Air West on the airport of the Chadian capital Djamena was challenged by the Chadian police force, brought back a journalist of AFP.
The man, whose identity and nationality were not specified, was stopped without resistance in possession of a weapon of fist and of a knife, specified in AFP a Chadian governmental source.
A few minutes before going, it had released the totality of the 95 passengers and the 8 members of crew of the apparatus, according to the same source.
The hijacker wished to obtain the political asylum in Great Britain, guaranteed by the ambassador of France with Djamena, indicated the Chadian governmental source.
Let me guess....
The gunman is a Methodist from Nebraska?
Wednesday January 24, 6:52 PM
Sudanese plane hijacker arrested
By Betel Miarom
N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - An armed Sudanese man hijacked a Sudanese airliner on Wednesday which flew to neighbouring Chad, where the hijacker was arrested and the passengers safely released, Chadian officials said.
They said the hijacker, a young man who said he was persecuted in Sudan, had demanded to be flown to Britain but the passenger plane, an Air West Boeing 737, did not have enough fuel and flew to the Chadian capital N'Djamena instead.
The plane, which was diverted while on a domestic flight from Khartoum to Sudan's conflict-torn west Darfur region, landed safely at N'Djamena with 103 people on board.
"He (the hijacker) has been arrested and will answer for his actions ... Chad is not a sanctuary for terrorists," Chad's Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi told Reuters.
An Air West official had said earlier in Khartoum that the hijacker had requested asylum from the French embassy in Chad.
Younousmi said the man had requested guarantees from the French embassy before he gave himself up, but that Chadian authorities refused to accept this.
"Chad alone is handling this crisis," Younousmi said. "There's no question of involving different foreign embassies," he added.
He said the hijacker had been armed with a pistol.
Sudanese air officials said the man had been carrying an AK-47 rifle and had diverted the airliner 30 minutes after takeoff from Khartoum.
There were 95 passengers and eight crew on board, a Sudanese civil aviation spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear how the weapon got on board the aircraft but Sudanese security is lax, especially on internal flights.
(snip)
Could be a Scientologist angry about his new Christ.....
Translation:
"We have pliers and blowtorches too, thank you very much."
or it's the pocket model AK-47p.....{;^)
Looks like a IL-76 Candid and a Dash-8 sitting on the tramac.
Looks a bit like a C-141, but the short fuselage in front of the leading edge says "Candid."
AKA "Starlifterovitch."
or Jacques Bauere from French Intelligence...
Or is that an oxymoron?
Bwahahahahahaha!!!!
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