Hijacker seizes airliner

Press, 8 March 1984, Page 8

Hijacker seizes airliner

NZPA-Reuter Geneva An Air France Boeing 737 was hijacked to Geneva yesterday on a flight from Frankfurt to Paris and a hijacker, believed to be acting alone, demanded that it be refuelled and flown to Libya, the police said. A spokesman said the hijacker had released seven passengers — six women and a man who was ill — but was holding the remaining 55 passengers and six crew.

He could give no information on how the hijacker was armed or about his nationality, but said that negotiations were continuing between the Geneva control tower and the aircraft which was parked at the extreme end of one runway, far from airport buildings. Geneva’s chief of. police and Justice Department, Mr Guy Fontanet, had taken personal charge of the negotiations with the hijacker, the spokesman said. Several dozen police took up positions behind buildings and in bushes around the perimeter of the runway where the hijacked plane was parked.