Saudi plane hijacked, lands in Baghdad

DAMASCUS, OCT. 14. A hijacker today seized a Saudi civilian plane, Flight 115, carrying 111 people and ordered it to fly to Syria and then Iraq. The plane first landed in Damascus after initially having been refused permission to do so, Damascus airport officials said.

Later, Syrian State television announced that the plane had taken off for the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, after being stationed at the tarmac here for about one hour.

A Baghdad report said the plane, hijacked en route from Jeddah to London, landed at 4.45 p.m (GMT) at the Baghdad airport.

Royal member aboard

A Saudi official said a member of the Saudi royal family was among 95 passengers on-board. Prince Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Saud, Assistant Minister of Defence and Aviation, did not identify the royal family member.

He confirmed reports that the aircraft was heading to Baghdad and said most of the passengers were Britons. Prince Fahd said the plane was also carrying 16 crew when it was commandeered, apparently by a lone hijacker.

The United States is trying to determine if any Americans were on-board, a White House spokesperson, Mr. Jake Siewert, said. The President, Mr. Bill Clinton, was briefed and Washington was ``checking'' if any of the passengers were U.S. citizens.

The plane had earlier entered the Greek airspace, but the pilot had radioed the Cairo control tower. Radio contact with the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, was lost after that, the official said.

The Cairo office of Saudi Arabian Airlines had no immediate comment on the news.

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