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Updated at 9.55am
THE HIJACKER OF an Ethiopian Airlines plane en route to Rome that was hijacked and forced to land in Switzerland was the co-pilot of the plane, Geneva police have said.
A police spokesman said earlier that the alleged hijacker had been arrested and that the airport had been closed.
It’s since been confirmed that the man arrested was the co-pilot, and that he seized his chance to take control of the plane when the pilot went to the bathroom.
“He said he felt threatened in his country and wants to seek asylum in Switzerland,” Geneva police spokesman Eric Grandjean told reporters.
The man, born in 1983 and an Ethiopian citizen, had contacted Geneva Airport and said “he needed to land to fill the tank. After that he announced the hijacking,” Grandjean said.
“At 6:02 am, the plane landed safely,” he said, adding that the co-pilot had left the plane by scaling down a rope he had thrown out of the cockpit window.
“He didn’t have a weapon with him,” he said, adding that the hijacker would go before a judge later today.
Technically, he can be charged with “hostage-taking,” and could face up to 20 years in prison, Grandjean said.
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The airline said in a statement that the plane had been forced to land, and that no passengers had been harmed:
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET-702 on scheduled service departing from Addis Ababa on 17 February 2014 at 00:30 (local time) scheduled to arrive in Rome at 04:40 (local time) was forced to proceed to Geneva Airport.Accordingly, the flight has landed safely at Geneva Airport. All passengers and crew are safe at Geneva Airport.
Ethiopian Airlines is making immediate arrangements to fly its esteemed customers on-board the flight to their intended destinations.
The Tribune de Geneve newspaper reports that the plane was hijacked as it was flying over Sudan.
Geneva Airport has now reopened in the wake of the alert:
First posted at 7.25am
This article includes reporting from AFP.
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Does this mean I can’t bring a co-pilot in my hand luggage anymore?
To sum it up: he was going to Italy, a first world country, but purposely chose to seek asylum in Switzerland because he knows it is the richest, and he managed to cause a huge amount of concern while doing so.
Europe needs to change asylum laws. Throw this moron back to Ethiopia.
Well…. Aside from any potential jail sentence, its fair to assume he will be back in Ethiopia.
Also, why do you think he chose a non-EU country over an EU country?
Italy is swamped with asylum seekers from Africa, so they aren’t exactly put up in the Ritz.
@Graham – you have to ask yourself what makes an obviously well educated man risk everything to be this moronic? how bad are things for him – how far would you be prepared to go in similar circumstances?
Well educated people regularly do moronic things. In Ireland’s case well educated people tend to do supremely moronic things.
How bad things were for him? He was a pilot. I’d say compared to 99% of Ethiopians, things were pretty pretty good for him.
He is a Pilot with one of Africa’s best airlines. Idk about Ethiopia, but becoming a pilot is expensive and indicates he comes from a background with considerable opportunity so I doubt he is short on money. Perhaps, this is a genuine case of asylum for the right reasons and we should reserve our judgement until we know the facts, perhaps he chose Switzerland for reasons other than financial gain.
Why did the hijacker / co-pilot not look for asylum in Rome, instead of putting so many at risk? Obviously he had done his research & Switzerland probably offers a more attractive welfare freebies package.
I think its much harder to get extradited from Switzerland so thats probably why
That wouldn’t happen on an Ryanair flight leaving Ireland….
The whole flight would be looking for political asylum..
Latest reports indicate the hijacker is actually the co-pilot seeking asylum.
Why did he not catch a flight on his day off ?
I want all hijackers are arrested.
So was the plane actually “hijacked” at any stage? Why didn’t he just walk up and seek asylum without the dramatics – did he really have to climb out the window? he sought to land in a normal manner to refuel and then said “this is a hijacking” yet he had already landed. Confused.
Didn’t he get the memo about Switzerland being xenophobic and anti-immigrant?
I want all hijacker’s are arrested.
have your say