Maltese troops survey a hijacked Libyan Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 on the runway at Malta Airport, December 23, 2016. Credit:Reuters/Darrin Zamit-Lupi
Valletta: An airliner on an internal flight in Libya was hijacked and diverted to Malta where it landed on Friday, Maltese media reported.
Two hijackers had threatened to blow up the Airbus A320, which had 118 people aboard, outlets including the Times of Malta said. The aircraft had been flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned Afriqiyah Airways.
The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta is about 500 km north of the Libyan coast.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted: “Informed of potential hijack situation of a #Libya internal flight diverted to #Malta. Security and emergency operations standing by -JM”.