A man has emerged from a hijacked Libyan jet waving a flag associated with the late former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, during a stand-off in Malta.
The man appeared after most of the 118 people on board had been released from the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320.
The domestic flight was hijacked in the morning after taking off from Sabha, bound for the Libyan capital Tripoli.
At least one man claiming to have a hand grenade threatened to blow up the plane, according to local reports.
The flag-waving man is then understood to have gone back inside the passenger plane.
Initial information suggests the hijacker is trying to claim political asylum in Malta, the mayor of Sabha, Colonel Hamed al-Khayali, told the BBC.
However, a Libyan television station which says it interviewed a hijacker said he wanted to promote a new pro-Gaddafi party.
“We took this measure to declare and promote our new party,” he was quoted as telling Libya’s Channel, according to the broadcaster’s Twitter account.
Col Khayali also said there was only one hijacker although some reports say there are two.
The plane took off from Sabha at 11:10 local time (08:10 GMT), landing in Malta two hours and 20 minutes later.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that his country’s security forces were standing by.
Mr Muscat said on Twitter that the passengers list included 82 men, 28 women and one baby.
Col Khayali said the plane had left Sabha’s Tmenhant military airport at 11:05 local time for Tripoli.
“It was hijacked and investigations are continuing to establish how any explosives or weapons made it on board,” he said.
He added that security at Tmenhant was poor, with a distance of 5km (3.1 miles) travel between the airport building and planes.
“That is an open space and it is possible that along that route something was smuggled on board,” he said.
The deputy mayor for Lija in Malta, Madga Magri Naudi, told the BBC that paramedics and soldiers were standing by to see “what the next step is”.
A special committee meeting was taking place to address the situation, she added.
In the meantime, Malta International Airport has been closed and all flights have been diverted.
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