Eight passengers from the hijacked Afghanistan aircraft at Stansted airport were released yesterday as British police continued to negotiate with the hijackers. About 157 hostages were thought last night to remain on the aircraft.
The released hostages include two infants and four members of the same family, believed to be from Afghanistan, who told British police that the hijackers had "treated them well". Police said they had no knowledge that any Irish people were on board.
There were thought to be up to 12 hijackers on board the Boeing 727 Ariana Airlines aircraft, which landed at Stansted shortly after 2 a.m. yesterday morning. Stansted, which is about 50 miles from London, was designated as the British airport most suitable to receive hijacked aircraft, because there are no heavily populated areas nearby.
The hijackers are said to be armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades. The aircraft was parked on the runway about four miles from the main terminal building and 500 metres from the airport's perimeter fence. An armed police response unit was on stand-by at the airport.
The hijackers seized the aircraft and passengers on Sunday as it prepared to leave Kabul bound for Mazar-i-Sharif, in Afghanistan. They directed the crew to take them to Uzbekistan and then on to Kazakstan and Russia. Ten passengers were allowed off the aircraft during these stopovers.
While they have made no formal demands to police, apart from requests for food, water and medical supplies for a passenger with a kidney complaint, the hijackers are thought to be pressing for the release from prison of the Afghan military leader and opposition figure Ismail Khan.
As Stansted remained on a high level security alert last night, Assistant Chief Constable John Broughton of Essex Police said a trained negotiating team comprising police officers and officials from the British Foreign Office was rapidly "building trust" with the hijackers. "We are building up a relationship and a rapport with the hijackers. It is a very delicate operation and we remain committed to a successful outcome where no one is injured. We will talk for as long as necessary."
Essex police said an armed response to the hijack was "one of a range of options" available, but stressed the need to continue negotiating a peaceful end to the hijack.
Most morning flights to and from Stansted were cancelled due to the hijack, with Ryanair passengers being particularly badly affected.
At a press conference at Stansted last night, Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) Joe Edwards described the mood on board the plane as "calm". Supplies of fresh water, food, soft drinks and a generator to keep the air conditioning system working were delivered to the aircraft in the afternoon. Mr Edwards predicted that the negotiations with the hijackers would be "very protracted. It could go on for days." The management at Stansted is expecting a very busy day today as up to 18,000 passengers return to the airport to resume cancelled journeys.
Mr Ian Hill, a freelance journalist from Belfast, was planning to return home after a weekend in Barcelona, but his Jersey European flight was cancelled at the last minute. At 2 p.m. he was stranded and told he might have to wait five hours for another flight: "They're not offering us anything. Not even a cup of coffee. They haven't worked out what to say to us and they don't seem prepared for this at all."
Reuters adds: British negotiators face the added complication of dealing with a country with which Britain has no diplomatic relations. "There is no effective national government in Afghanistan with whom we can do government-to-government business," a Foreign Office official said.
The official said the Taliban authorities had no representative in London and contacts with them were usually conducted through Britain's High Commission in Islamabad or through the United Nations in New York. "We have a channel of communication to the Taliban and we have used that," he said.
The Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, issued a statement saying the Taliban would not negotiate with the hijackers. Describing the hijackers as terrorists, Mullah Omar said: "We will not negotiate with them. We will not accept their demands."