B732 Sun Air hijacked, diverted to Kufra, (Libya)

[con-pilot]

Just heard that an airliner has been hijacked after takeoff form Darfur and is now in Libya. No other details.

[Kiwi red]

It's on the BBC website
BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Sudan plane 'hijacked' in Darfur (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7582975.stm)

A Sudanese plane has been hijacked shortly after take-off from Nyala, in Darfur region, Sudanese aviation officials have said.

The plane was reported to be on its way to Khartoum, but has landed in Libya, said Arabic satellite television channel Al Jazeera.

An official from Sudan's Sun Air company told AFP news agency that there were 87 passengers on the plane.

A five-year conflict in Darfur has left about 200,000 people dead.

Al Jazeera said the plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land.

Another Arabic news channel, Al Arabiya, said a Sudanese man had hijacked the plane.

[SNS3Guppy]

If the hijacker elects to remain in Libya, he'll most likely have to join the union.

[st7860]

not a bomb, but just a..... knife?


Sudan plane hijacked to Libya, reports say - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/26/sudan.plane/index.html)

-- A Sudanese plane that was hijacked shortly after taking off from Nyala in the country's Darfur region has landed in Kufra, Libya, according to media reports.
Passengers on the plane include some officials from Darfur's interim government, according to a reporter from Al-Shuruq, a Dubai-based Sudanese network funded by Sudan's government.
A man holding a knife seized the passenger plane carrying more than 100 people, a Sudanese security official told The Associated Press

[fixwing38]

International media reporting aircraft from Sudan now in Libya asking for fuel to go to France......anyone know more.??

[andyhargreaves]

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Sudanese plane hijacked in Darfur (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7582975.stm)

"A Sudanese security official said a man with a knife had hijacked the plane."

"The plane initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land."

Not much info at the moment.

[Aviator9H]

The Sudanese airliner was hijacked after takeoff from Nyala (UYL). The aircraft diverted to Kufra (AKF/HLKF), Libya after authorities in Egypt refused permission for it to land in Cairo.

[Willoz269]

Latest reports are that the hijackers are demanding refuelling and want to fly the aeroplane to Paris!

[wiggy]

Oooh, that could get interesting.

[fallen]

What's the French Policy on Hijacked planes these days? Shoot it down? Or wave it in?

[wiggy]

We may see - I certainly wouldn't put Paris on my "places to go to list" if I was in the hijackers' shoes. The French certainly had a fairly robust response to a recent maritime hijack off Somalia.

French Troops Attack Somali Pirates After 30 Hostages Freed - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103537.html)

[vapilot2004]

Hijackers of Darfur plane refuse negotiations

By KHALED EL-DEEB – 23 minutes ago

TRIPOLI, Libya -- The hijackers of a plane that took off from Sudan's Darfur region were refusing to negotiate Wednesday after landing at a remote desert airfield in southern Libya, the official Libyan news agency reported.

The hijackers were also refusing to release women and children of allow provisions on board, the JANA news agency said.

Hijackers commandeered the Boeing 737 jetliner, which was carrying nearly 100 people, soon after it took off Tuesday from Nyala in the south of Darfur, a vast region where Sudan's government has been battling rebels since 2003.

The plane, which had been en route to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, was diverted to a World War II-era airstrip in Libya's Sahara desert oasis of Kufra.

Kufra airport director Khaled Sasiya spoke to one of the hijackers, who demanded maps to fly to Paris and fuel for the plane, the JANA report said.

Sasiya said the man, who identified himself as Yassin, told him that he and his fellow hijackers were from the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Nur and that they were refusing to negotiate, according to the news agency's report.

The group's spokesman, Yahia Bolad, denied any involvement, saying his group has "no relation to this act."

Asked if French authorities could accept the hijackers arriving in France, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Europe-1 radio that he could "not say anything now. But we are considering everything so that the passengers, the 100 passengers, are protected."

Kouchner also said rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur, who lives in Paris, denied he was in contact with the hijackers.

"He says he doesn't know these people and that he absolutely refuses to use such methods," Kouchner said. "It's not his way. He's rather a peaceful man."

The hijacked airliner belongs to a private company, Sun Air, and was carrying 95 people, including crew and passengers, the Sudanese civil aviation authority said in a statement carried by the Sudan Media Center, which has close links to the government.

The Kufra airport director said the hijacker he spoke to told him that the poor air conditioning system inside the aircraft was creating breathing problems for passengers and that some had fainted.

Among the passengers were former rebels who have become members of the Darfur Transitional Authority, an interim government body responsible for implementing a peace agreement reached in 2006 between the government and one of the rebel factions, a security official at Nyala airport said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

There was conflicting information about the hijackers' identities and how many there were.

A Libyan official at the Kufra airport said on Tuesday that there were 10 hijackers belonging to a Darfur rebel group and that they were demanding enough fuel to continue to France.

The rebels quickly denied the accusation.

The official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, reported Wednesday that Sun Air put the number of the hijackers at four.

Sudan's consul in Kufra, Mohammed al-Bila Othman, told SUNA there were some 500 security and police personnel at the airport as well as ambulances and firefighting vehicles.

The chief of police of the southern Darfur province, Maj. Gen. Fathul-Rahamn Othman, told SUNA that the hijacking was meant to "destabilize security and is part of the events taking part in the Darfur provinces."

Darfur's ethnic African rebels have been battling the Arab-led Khartoum government since 2003 in a conflict that the United Nations says has killed up to 300,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes.

In the worst attack in months, the Sudanese military on Monday assaulted the Darfur refugee camp of Kalma, near Nyala airport, from which the hijacked plane took off.

A spokesman for Darfur's U.N.-African Union peacekeepers, Nourredine Mezni, said at least 33 people killed in the attack were buried Tuesday, though some U.N. officials said the toll could be higher.

A spokesman for one of the rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Hussain, said he had reports of 70 dead. He accused the government in the hijacking, saying it was trying to "divert attention" from Monday's attack.






not a bomb, but just a..... knife?

Well at least they didn't use bottles of .................water. :rolleyes:

[Sudan19]

how could this happen in 2008???:ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Xeque]

how could this happen in 2008???

Easy. The flight originated in the Sudan. Just how seriously do you think they take pre-boarding security there?

[SU-GCM]

Last I heared that the Hijackers are almost 10 !!!!
the crew refused to fly again dueto fatigue
they released all pax but not the crew
They requested to land initlally at Cairo OR Aswan Airports but their request was refused by the Egyptian Authorities

can some one exaplain to me if the aircraft was making a domestic flight in Sudan how come it flies to Libya ????? How many LBS of fuel they got onboard ???!!!!!

HSNL--->HLKF = 1373 NM
HSNL--->HSSS = 583 NM

That's around twice the fuel needed !!!!

[abusalih]

The fuel required to fly from Nyala to khartoum is 8,000 lbs plus 45 min holding and alternate fuel which is about 12,000 lbs. B737-200 burn 6,000 lbs per hour and ground speed is about 430 knots in most cases. the aircraft hijacked immediately after takeoff and the time to fly to Kufra is about 0230 from Nyala and the endurance of 737 was about 0330, so it's easy to rich there with extra one hour but the 737 consumed about 45 min when it was flying direct position SML in Egypt and finally changed their destination to kufra.

Kufra tower refused to issue landing clearance to Sun Air B737 but the PIC declare emergency due to short of fuel and they landed safely

[SU-GCM]

@ abusalih

Thanks for the clarification

[daz211]

Thank god for that, I was ready to welcome them to STN !
The last lost are still living in and around STN and one im
sure got a job at LHR as a BA cleaner.

You gotta love this country :ugh:.

[JanetFlight]

A Pic of the Plane...it seems very hard to get;
Ex-Sudan Air West, Ex-Sudan Marsland Aviation, Ex-Sudan Nova Air...»»»

http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/img.php?photoId=3091317&thumbSize=newlarge

It Seems ST-SDA, me thinks..:hmm:

[SU-GCM]

Delivery date| Airline| Registration| Remark
09/04/1985 CAAC (http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/CAAC.htm) B-2508
01/01/1988 Air China (http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Air%20China.htm) B-2508
28/04/1995 Air Great Wall (http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Air%20Great%20Wall.htm) B-2508
14/05/2002 China Eastern Airlines (http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/China%20Eastern%20Airlines.htm) B-2508 Sold to Janco Aircraft Engines 17/10/03
01/12/2006 Air West Cargo (http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Air%20West%20Cargo.htm) ST-SDA


Source : Airfleets.net
Air West Cargo ST-SDA (Boeing 737) (Ex B-2508 ) - Airfleets (http://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b737-23274.htm)


Aviation Safety Database :
ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-200 ST-SDA ? N'Djamena Airport (NDJ) (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20070124-0)

I am Happy everyone is Ok and that they finally surenderd