TRIPOLI, Libya — Two Sudanese men, armed with handguns and the threat of explosives, stormed the cockpit of a Boeing 737, taking control just minutes into the flight. Passengers said they still spent a night in fear.
Once on the ground at a remote Libyan airfield, the hijackers demanded maps and enough fuel to reach France. But after 22 hours, the standoff ended Wednesday with the 95 passengers and crew let go and the gunmen surrendering in a run-down VIP lounge with a plea for asylum.
Passengers and officials at the airport in southeastern Libya said the men identified themselves as members of a Darfur rebel group — the Sudan Liberation Movement, which promptly denied any involvement.
But Murtada Hassan, executive director of Sun Air, which owns the jetliner, said their motives were personal and they had no connection with any political or rebel groups.
The hijackers, Darfuri men in their 40s, made no political demands.
“Their first demand was France. … Then they negotiated for Libyan asylum. Then they had no other solution — there was no escape,” said Mohammed Al-Balla Othman, Sudan’s consul in the desert oasis of Kufra, where the plane landed Tuesday. It was unclear whether their asylum request would be granted.
The plane was hijacked about 20 minutes into its flight from Nyala, the capital of southern Darfur, to Sudan’s national capital, Khartoum.
Waving handguns, the men forced their way into the pilot’s cabin. Passengers said the men threatened to blow up the plane, but there was no indication they had explosives or any other means to cause an explosion.
The plane landed at Kufra, a World War II-era outpost near Libya’s border with Egypt and Sudan, where about 500 security personnel and police surrounded the plane as negotiators worked to free the passengers.
Late Wednesday, a Libyan plane flew the freed crew and passengers to Khartoum.
The hijacking took place not far from a Darfur refugee camp that the Sudanese military attacked on Monday, raising questions about whether the men were rebels who acted in retaliation.
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