On Friday, December 23, it became known that the Afriqiyah Airways A320 with around 120 people on board landed in Malta after it was hijacked in Libyan airspace. The hijackers demanded the release of Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam.
A total of 111 passengers - 82 men, 28 women and an infant - and six crew members were on board. The hijackers did not show aggression toward hostages, one of them was even willing to let all passengers go apart from the crew.
Now, the hijacked plane is in one of the Malta's airports. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that at 17:22 CET all the passengers and some of the crew were released.
Malta Security Services are in alert. All flights had initially been cancelled or diverted after the landing of the hijacked plane. Some time after the release of the hostages the airport's work was resumed.
Recall, Saif al-Islam is the second son of Muammar Gaddafi. According to the last year's data, the Libyan court sentenced him to death, but this information is not accurate. In May this year it was reported that Saif al-Islam escaped justice.