Hijack ends peacefully

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 6

Hijack ends peacefully

NZPA-Reuter Larnaca Two men who hijacked a Rumanian airliner chartered to Libya, surrendered yesterday at Larnaca, Cyprus, and its 21 passengers, including a three-year-old girl, were released unharmed. Mr Christos Mavrellis, the Cypriot Minister of Communications and Works, who negotiated with the hijackers, told reporters that no terms had been agreed on for release of the hostages other than fair treatment

for the hijackers under arrest. The passengers, mostly Egyptians and Libyans, appeared tired and a little shocked as they trooped into a lounge at Larnaca airport. None of them had been harmed and many said that the hijackers had treated them kindly. One hijacker surrendered a pistol to the Cypriot police. Reports that the other hijacker had been carrying explosives turned out to be unfounded.

The Boeing 707, which has a crew of 11. was hijacked earlier yesterday on a flight from Athens to Libya and landed at Rome before flying on to Cyprus. Mr Mavrellis said that Iran had refused the hijackers’ demand to fly on to Teheran. All other airports in the Middle East also had refused to accept the plane, he said. Earlier, before they surrendered, he said that the hijackers “appear very calm and not aggressive.”

“Our purpose is to convince them to release the passengers who are our main concern.” The hijacked Boeing 707 of Rumania’s Tarom airline, on charter to Libyan Arab Airlines, arrived at Larnaca, 14 hours after it was seized. It was allowed to land at Larnaca after Lebanese officials refused to allow the plane to land at Beirut and the pilot had circled over the Mediterranean for nearly two hours until his fuel was almost exhausted.