London-bound jet hijacked over Egypt

October 14, 2000 Web posted at: 12:57 p.m. EDT (1657 GMT)

CAIRO, Egypt -- A London-bound Saudi airliner has been hijacked over Egypt and ordered to fly to Damascus, Syria, say Egyptian civil aviation officials.

The plane was flying from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to London when it was hijacked on Saturday.

After being denied permission to land by Syrian authorities, the Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777 was circling over the eastern Mediterranean with 198 passengers and nine crew aboard, according to Cypriot aviation officials.

Cypriot air traffic controllers said the plane had asked to cross Syria to fly to Baghdad, Iraq after being refused permission to land in Damascus.

A message from the captain of the Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-200 to the control tower at Larnaca, Cyprus, said: "The hijacker is saying that he has TNT (explosives) on board and he might blow the aircraft, and we have passengers from all kinds of nationalities."

"Do you read? Call the Damascus FIA (Flight Information Area) for authority to overfly," he said.

Nothing is known about the motives or identity of the hijacker.

"A Saudi flight 115 from Jeddah to London told the control tower just after leaving Egyptian airspace at 2.55 p.m. (1255 GMT) local time that he was hijacked and that the hijackers demanded that they go to Damascus," an Egyptian aviation official said.

The Cairo office of Saudi Arabian Airlines had no immediate comment on the hijacking.

The Egyptian official said Cairo had informed the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority of the incident.

-- (world war III @ coming. soon), October 14, 2000

Answers

That would be "member", not "memeber".

Not sure what a "memeber" is, but it sounds like something Andy Gay despises.

-- LOL (andy@hates.memes), October 14, 2000.

Top World News

10/14 13:32 Saudi Flight to London Hijacked; Lands in Baghdad (Update3) By Sean Evers and Cherif Cordahi

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A hijacked Saudi Arabian Airlines plane carrying more than 100 people flying to London from the Red Sea port of Jeddah has landed in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a Saudi Arabian Airlines official said.

``The plane has landed in Baghdad,'' said Yaroub Balkhair, general manager of public relations with Saudi Arabian Airlines, who refused to make any further comment. There are 108 passengers and crew on the hijacked Boeing 777-200, Cyprus air traffic control said.

Britain's Sky News reported that many of the passengers are British.

Diplomatic relations have been severed between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraq's President Saddam Hussein has recently called the royal family of Saudi Arabia ``dogs,'' and has criticized Arab states for their slow response to help the Palestinians in their demand for an independent state.

The hijacking comes amid recent violence between Israel and the Palestinians, in which almost 100 Palestinians have died, which has intensified Arab anger toward the U.S. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in most Arab capitals in recent days to voice support for the Palestinian cause.

Eight buses are at Baghdad International Airport waiting to pick up the passengers, Qatar's Al Jazeera television reported in live coverage, and added there are negotiations are underway for the passengers' release, one of which is believed to be a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family. The television station didn't name him.

A large number of police are surrounding the plane at Baghdad airport, which has been closed to international commercial traffic since 1990.

``The hijacker is saying that he has TNT on board and he might blow the aircraft, and we have passengers from all kinds of nationalities,'' according to Sky News, citing comments from the plane's captain intercepted by Israeli radio.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producing country, told the leaders of the U.S. and Europe that it was prepared to take ``strong measures'' if Israel didn't end its two week ``aggression'' against Palestinians, the state-controlled Saudi Arabia-owned Al Watan newspaper reported.

In a message delivered by the Kingdom's Crown Prince Abdullah, King Fahd told U.S. President Bill Clinton and his European counterparts that ``it's in your interest and the interest of our relations and the interest of Israel and Jews to know this.'' The message didn't outline what measures the country would take if the conflict continued.

-- (alittle@more.news), October 14, 2000.

Here's the REEEEAAAAALLLLL October Surprise: King Klinton goes over to Jordan to deal for the hostage(s) and/or a peace agreement and then gets killed, leaving Prince Albert and Madame Reno to carry on.

-- (Ic@n.see.itnow), October 14, 2000.