Egypt official says hijacked plane to land in Syria

Egypt official says hijacked plane to land in Syria
Reuters

CAIRO, OCT 14: A London-bound Saudi airliner hijacked on Saturday will land in Damascus shortly, an Egyptian Air traffic controller said.

"The Syrian authorities have decided to permit the plane toland in Damascus airport shortly," one official said. He added Egyptian controllers were in radio contact with their colleagues in the region.

The Syrians initially denied Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight115, which took off from the Saudi Port city of Jeddah, permission to enter Syrian airspace.

Airport authorities in nearby Beirut said they would alsodeny the Boeing 777-200 permission to land and had taken measures to close the airport in case it flew there, civil aviation sources said.

Egyptian aviation officials initially said the hijacker haddemanded to land in Damascus, but then said the Pilot had been seeking permission to transit through Syrian airspace to Baghdad.