afrol News, 28 August - Passengers and crewmembers of a Sudanese plane that was hijacked en-route to Paris on Tuesday finally made it home safely yesterday.

The plane was carrying around 100 passengers and was hijacked by two suspected Darfur rebel members, shortly after take-off from Nyala, in war-torn Darfur region.

The hijackers reportedly gave themselves up to Libyan authorities in the desert town of Kufra, 24 hours after they seized the Sudanese plane.

Media reports show that there were scenes of joy at Khartoum airport as released victims were welcomed homed by friends and relatives.

Sudan has urged Libya to extradite the two men suspects who claim to belong to a Darfur rebel group, though they are denied by group leadership. A Sudanese official said hijackers had requested asylum in Libya.

The passengers had a lot to say about their daylong ordeal.

"They were treating us really badly for 15 hours," one man told media.

"We had to sit in one place and we couldn't move, we couldn't even scratch our heads, we couldn't even go to the toilet. I was afraid, I didn't even think 1% I would be alive. They said 'We have explosives!'" the man added.

Another told about an attempt to subdue the hijackers.

"We tried to overcome them physically but the captain came out and said no don't do that. We're going to negotiate this by talking."

The desert oasis of Kufra is in a remote region approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles) south of Libyan capital, Tripoli.

According to director of Kufra airport, who was quoted by Libyan media, the hijackers told the pilot of the Sun Air Boeing 737 they were from the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.

Mr Nur, who is based in Paris, has however strongly denied any involvement in the incident.

The hijackers were reportedly refused permission to land in Egypt and then demanded to be flown to France.

According to the airport director, hijackers surrendered without any violence and crew are safe and sound.

A five-year conflict in Darfur has left about 200,000 people dead and more than two million homeless.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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