A Sudanese plane, hijacked during a flight from Nyala, in Darfur, to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, landed Tuesday at the Koufra airport , south-east of Libya, aviation officials said.
The officials said they authorised the plane to land on humanitarian grounds after the pilot radioed to say the aircraft was running out of fuel.
The plane, belonging to a Sudanese private company, Sun Air, had 87 passengers and eight crew members on board. MENA, the Egyptian national news agency has quoted Sunair as saying four men hijacked the plane.
Sun Air is a privately owned company that operates domestic passenger services across Sudan, the largest country in Africa where aviation records are poor.
Libyan officials have left Tripoli for Koufra, a city located in the desert clos e to the border between Libya and Sudan for investigations.
According to sources, the hijackers have asked for fuel to enable them proceed to France.
In January 2007, a gunman, apparently seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, was arrested after he hijacked a Sudanese passenger jet and diverted it to Chad.
