Saudi Plane Bound for London Hijacked
B A G H D A D, Iraq, Oct. 15, 2000 -- Hijackers who commandeered a Saudi plane while over the Mediterranean Seaand took it to Baghdad on Saturday have been arrested, Iraqi statetelevision reported, ending a daylong ordeal for the 105 people onboard.
Details on how the hijacking was resolved were not immediatelyavailable, but state television said all the passengers were safeand would be taken to a Baghdad hotel. The hijackers asked forpolitical asylum, the television reported.
The Boeing 777 had landed at Baghdad’s Saddam InternationalAirport about 8 p.m. local time, the official Iraqi News Agencystated.
Upset Over Investigation
Speaking before the release of the passengers, an Iraqi official in militaryuniform said the hijackers, who appeared to number four, said theyseized the plane because they were upset over an investigation intothe human rights situation in Saudi Arabia that was too favorableto the government.
They also said they ordered Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 115 tofly to Baghdad because Iraq rejects “U.S. hegemony,” said theofficial, who was shown speaking on state television but notidentified.
Security at the Baghdad airport was tight, with guards turningaway journalists. Ambulances, buses, a fire engine and a fueltanker went into the airport as reporters watched.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq have had no relations since Iraqi troopsinvaded Kuwait in 1990. But the Iraqi Ministry of Culture andInformation issued a statement saying “the safety and security ofthe Saudi plane’s passengers concerns us as if they were Iraqicitizens. Therefore, we reassure the families of the passengersthat the Iraqi authorities will take [care] of their relatives’ safety andcomfort to the maximum extent.”
Various Nationalities
Saudi Arabian Airlines officials in Jiddah said the plane had 90passengers and 15 crew, led by an Ethiopian captain.
The airline officials said the passengers were 40 Britons, 15Saudis, 15 Pakistanis, four Yemenis, four South Africans, twoKenyans, and one each from France, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Oman,the Palestinian territories, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and theUnited States.
The plane was traveling from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to London whenthe hijackers seized it, ordering it around the Middle East beforelanding in Baghdad. A hijacker had at one point threatened to blowup the plane unless it was allowed to fly to Baghdad, Saudiofficials said on condition of anonymity.
Word of the hijacking first emerged in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptiancivil aviation officials said the pilot radioed them at 3:55 p.m.local time to say the plane had been commandeered and the hijackerswere insisting that it fly to Damascus, the Syrian capital.
Syrians Withhold Permission
When the plane got to Syria, the hijackers asked to land and were deniedpermission, Cypriot air traffic controllers said on condition ofanonymity. Circling over the Mediterranean, the hijackers thenasked to fly through Syrian airspace to Iraq, the Cypriots said.
The Syrians initially refused but later changed their mind,Damascus air traffic controllers said, and the plane flew throughSyria to Baghdad.
Damascus airport officials speaking on condition of anonymityhad said the plane landed in Damascus, but they later backed off ofthose statements, saying they were erroneous. The official SyrianArab News Agency reported that the plane never landed in Damascus,but flew over Syria to Iraq.
Baghdad’s Saddam airport was reopened on Aug. 17, having beenshut during the 1991 Gulf War. Regular flights to Baghdad arebanned by the U.N. sanctions imposed since the invasion of Kuwait,but a series of planes have landed at Saddam airport in the pastthree weeks as France, Russia and a dozen Arab states sentdelegations and humanitarian aid to Iraq.
Saturday’s attack was the second hijacking in the Gulf in amonth.
On Sept. 14, an Iraqi man hijacked a Qatar Airways plane atknifepoint and ordered it flown to Saudi Arabia. The 144 passengersand the crew escaped unharmed when the man surrendered to Saudiauthorities at the city of Hael.