Hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane lands at Geneva airport

By Agencies

Geneva, Switzerland: Swiss police have revealed that the hijacker of the Ethiopian Airlines flight that was forced to land at Geneva's international airport was a co-pilot.

The co-pilot has surrendered to police and asked for asylum in Switzerland, said Geneva Police.

Flight 702 left Addis Ababa at 00:30 local time (21:30 GMT), and was scheduled to arrive in Rome at 04:40 local time.

The Tribune de Geneve newspaper reports that the flight was hijacked as it was flying over Sudan.

Cairo airport officials said the pilot of the plane informed the control tower at Abu Simbel in southern Egypt that his plane had been hijacked, CBS News reports.

The pilot did not ask to land in Egypt, and the plane headed for Libyan airspace, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.

Geneva police confirmed the plane - a Boeing 767-300 - had made an unscheduled landing in the Swiss city at 06:00.

The plane was parked at a far end of a runway crowded with police and other emergency vehicles, with passengers filing out with their arms up in the air before getting onto waiting buses, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

All flights to and from the Geneva airport early Monday had either been diverted or cancelled.

The airport was gradually reopening, with landings starting up again at 8:00am and takeoffs scheduled to begin at 8:45am, according to a spokesman.