Afriqiyah Airways Flight 209 was a domestic passenger flight from Sabha to

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwe ...

that was hijacked on 23 December 2016 and made a

forced landing A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components, or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on ' ...

in Luqa,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. The flight was operated by

Afriqiyah Airways Afriqiyah Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية الأفريقية ''Al-Khuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-Afrīqiyyah'') is a state-owned airline based in Tripoli, Libya. Before the 17 February 2011 revolution, it operated domestic services betwee ...

, Libya's state airline, and carried 111 passengers: 82 males, 28 females and one infant. The two hijackers later released all of the

hostages A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or r ...

and surrendered to the authorities.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-214,

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

5A-ONB, msn 3236. It had first flown on 29 August 2007.

Hijacking

The aircraft, carrying seven crew and 111 passengers, had taken off from Sabha International Airport at 08:10 local time and was due to land at Tripoli at 09:20. The two hijackers threatened to blow up the aircraft with

hand grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

, according to Malta state television. One hijacker declared himself to be "pro-

Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

" and that he would release all passengers, but not the crew, if his unknown demands were accepted. The pilots had tried to land in Libya, but the hijackers refused their request. The aircraft was forced to land at

Malta International Airport Malta International Airport ( mt, L-Ajruport Internazzjonali ta' Malta, ) is the only airport in Malta and it serves the whole of the Maltese Islands. It is located on the island of Malta, southwest of the Maltese capital Valletta, in the town ...

at 11:32 am local time. The aircraft's engines were still running after it was surrounded by the Maltese military. One hijacker was reported to have appeared at the aircraft door waving a large green flag similar to the Libyan flag under Gaddafi. He then put the flag down and returned inside.

Response

Negotiating teams were placed on standby and Maltese military units arrived at the airport. Upon landing, at least 25 passengers had been released by the two hijackers, and negotiations were held. Following the release of all passengers and crew, the hijackers, Suhah Mussa and Ahmed Ali, surrendered to the Maltese authorities and were taken into custody. It was subsequently revealed that the weapons they had brandished were replicas.

Aftermath

On 2 December 2020, Suhah Mussa was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and fined €9,990 after he pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

Film

On the day of the hijacking, the Malta airport was being used to film scenes for the movie ''

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. T ...

'' about the 1976 hijacking of Air France Flight 139 and

Operation Entebbe Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week ear ...

, which had resulted in the release of most of the passengers and the deaths of the hostage-takers. Scenes of the real-life hostages exiting the Afriqiyah plane were filmed, edited and inserted in the movie, and producer Melvin Rotherberg qualified the event as a "blessing from the sky on a day of bad acting." Some of the passengers were subsequently cast as extras in the movie.

References

External links

News story about the hijacking (in Maltese). Archived
{{coord missing, Libya 2016 in Libya 2016 in Malta Aircraft hijackings Aviation accidents and incidents in 2016 Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320 Aviation accidents and incidents in Libya Aviation accidents and incidents in Malta 209 Luqa December 2016 crimes in Africa December 2016 crimes in Europe Second Libyan Civil War