KHARTOUM, Oct 15: Security personnel aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane flying from Khartoum to Jeddah foiled a hijacking attempt by a Saudi national on Tuesday, the airline and Sudanese police said.

The airline said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that its security forces subdued a pistol-toting Saudi man who tried to hijack the aircraft shortly after takeoff.

The Sudanese interior ministry gave a similar account, though it did not specify whether the Saudi was armed and said only that the crew had subdued him.

Major General Sayyed al-Hussein Osman, spokesman for Sudanese police, said the alleged hijacker was being interrogated and identified him as Adil Nasir Ahmed Farah.

“Twenty-two minutes after the plane left Khartoum airport, a man armed with a pistol stood up and announced he had hijacked the plane,” the airline said in its statement.

“The captain immediately diverted the plane towards Khartoum while special forces aboard the plane immediately arrested and disarmed the hijacker with the help of the crew,” it added.

On the plane’s landing in Khartoum, the hijacker was handed over to Sudanese authorities, who opened an investigation.

The 185 passengers on board the Airbus as well as the 19-member crew and security personel were safe and sound, and they were to resume their journey at a later date, the airline said.

The plane landed at Khartoum about one hour after the hijacking attempt, a spokesman for the airline said.

The airline has security forces travelling on every flight.

The Sudanese interior ministry said that about 20 minutes and 70kms after takeoff a Saudi national tried to hijack the Airbus 300.

The plane’s crew overpowered the hijacker and flew the aircraft back to the airport and all passengers disembarked safely.

The authorities searched the plane for explosives but found nothing, and an investigation has been opened, the statement said.

State-run Sudanese TV ran footage of the plane at Khartoum airport, showing emergency exit slides that were used to evacuate the passengers, as well as sniffer dogs and blue-uniformed security forces at work.

Journalists were barred by the authorities from entering the airport.

Saudi Arabian Airlines, with a 139-strong fleet, is the largest airline in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

In Oct 2000, two Saudis hijacked a London-bound Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Baghdad after it took off from Jeddah. They handed themselves to the Iraqi authorities.—AFP