Ethiopian Airlines flight is hijacked by its CO-PILOT who then tries to escape through cockpit window on a ROPE and then tried to escape through cockpit window on a ROPE after diverting plane to Geneva to claim asylum
- Flight ET702 made an unscheduled landing in Geneva on Monday morning
- A flight tracking app showed the flight circling over the city several times
- Swiss police said the hijacker of the Rome-bound flight had been arrested
- Co-pilot took control of the plane when the captain went to the toilet
- He climbed out of a window and descended by rope when he landed
- Police said he surrendered to them and asked for asylum in Switzerland
An Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked a plane bound for Rome and flew it to Switzerland, where he wanted to seek asylum, officials said today.
The Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 202 passengers and crew on board had taken off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and landed in Geneva at about 6am local time with just 20 minutes of fuel remaining.
The plane circled around Geneva until the co-pilot heard a direct response about his requests for asylum, it has been reported.
Arrest: An Ethiopian Airlines flight forced to land in Geneva, where the hijacker has been taken into police custody
Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon told reporters that the co-pilot, an Ethiopian man born in 1983, took control of the plane when the pilot left the cockpit.
‘The pilot went to the toilet and he (the co-pilot) locked himself in the cockpit,’ Mr Deillon said.
The man "wanted asylum in Switzerland",' he said. ‘That's the motivation of the hijacking.’
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The co-pilot himself alerted authorities to the plane's hijacking
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Precaution: Geneva Airport was temporarily closed when the hijacked plane landed
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Unusual approach: A graphic from a tracking app showing how the plane circled over Geneva
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