Horror: Passengers Narrate Ordeal Aboard Hijacked Ethiopian Airline
Passengers aboard the Ethiopian Airlines jetliner that was hijacked by a co-pilot are beginning to recount their experiences in the almost ill fated flight.
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It seemed like a routine overnight flight until the jetliner went into a dive and oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Only then did the terrified passengers - bound for Italy from Addis Ababa - realise something was terribly wrong.
The co-pilot had locked his captain from the cockpit, commandeered the plane, and headed for Geneva, where he used a rope to lower himself out of a window, then asked for political asylum.
Authorities say a prison cell is more likely.
One passenger said the hijacker threatened to crash the plane if the pilot didn't stop pounding on the locked door. Another said he was terrified “for hours” on Monday as the plane careened across the sky.
“It seemed like it was falling from the sky,” 45-year-old Italian Diego Carpelli said of the Boeing 767-300.
Flight ET702, carrying 200 passengers and crew, took off from the Ethiopian capital on a flight to Milan and then Rome, but sent a distress message over Sudan that it had been hijacked, an Ethiopian official said. Once the plane was over Europe, two Italian fighter jets and later French jets were scrambled to accompany it.
Italian Air Force Colonel Girolamo Iadiciccio said the order to scramble came from Nato to ensure the plane didn't harm national security and didn't stray off-route.
The plane landed in Geneva at about 6am (05h00 GMT). Officials said no one on the flight was injured and the hijacker was taken into custody after surrendering to Swiss police.
“The pilot went to the toilet and (the co-pilot) locked himself in the cockpit,” Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon told reporters. He “wanted asylum in Switzerland”.
It wasn't immediately clear why he chose Switzerland, where Swiss voters recently demanded curbs on immigration. However, Italy has a reputation among many Africans as not being hospitable to asylum-seekers.
Ethiopian Airlines is owned by Ethiopia's government, which has faced persistent criticism over its rights record and its alleged intolerance of political dissent.
The co-pilot was identified as Hailemedhin Abera, a 31-year-old Ethiopian man who had worked for Ethiopian Airlines for five years and had no criminal record, said Ethiopia's communications minister, Redwan Hussein, adding that Ethiopia will seek his extradition. Geneva police said he claimed he felt threatened at home.
Among the 200 people on board were seven crew members, as well as 139 Italians, 11 Americans, 10 Ethiopians, five Nigerians and four French citizens.
Swiss authorities initially thought the Ethiopian plane wanted to land in Geneva for emergency refuelling before realising it was being hijacked, Geneva police spokesman Eric Grandjean said.
Minutes after landing in Geneva, the co-pilot used a rope to climb out of the cockpit, then approached police forces deployed near the plane and “announced that he was himself the hijacker”, Grandjean said.
Police escorted the passengers out of the jetliner one by one, their hands over their heads, and took them to waiting vehicles. Geneva airport was closed down for about two hours.
Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot said the co-pilot will be charged with taking hostages, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Switzerland. In Ethiopia, he could face up to 25 years in prison for the hijacking.
Jornot said the hijacker's chances of winning asylum were slim.
“Technically there is no connection between asylum and the fact he committed a crime to come here,” he said. “But I think his chances are not very high.”
The Swiss federal prosecutors' office took over the case later on Monday.
Passengers going to Milan were put on buses, while those going to Rome and elsewhere got alternative flights home. The plane remained at Geneva airport and officials said they did not know when it would be removed.
While Italian and French military aircraft were scrambled to accompany the plane, no Swiss fighter jets were deployed because Switzerland does not have round-the-clock fighter jet intervention capability, Swiss air force spokesman Juerg Nussbaum said.
