Hijacked plane landed at Malta due to fuel limit

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Afriqiyah Airways says the men who hijacked its plane wanted to go to Rome but ended up in Malta instead due to fuel limitations.

Flight 8U209 was hijacked today as it flew from Sabha to Tripoli with 111 passengers and six crew members on board.

The airline said when the plane reached a cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, the pilot received a demand to land in Rome and was told by another crew member the hijackers were armed.

The pilot proposed landing in Tripoli and holding negotiations there but the hijackers refused, so Malta was the next option.

The hijacking ended peacefully several hours later when the hijackers surrendered to Malta authorities.

Malta's prime minister says the two Libyan men who hijacked a plane and diverted it to Malta had a hand grenade and a pistol on them and a second pistol was found on the plane during a search by Maltese soldiers.