Madrid - A Royal Air Maroc airliner was hijacked by three Moroccan men during a flight from Casablanca to Tunis late last night and forced to fly to Barcelona airport, the Spanish ministry of the interior said.
The Moroccan Boeing 737, reportedly carrying 32 Moroccans, 24 Tunisians and a Gabonese, plus nine crew, landed at 10.50 p.m. local time at the airport in north-east Spain and was immediately surrounded "in the normal manner for such cases," a ministry spokesman said.
The authorities were in contact with the French-speaking hijackers who were demanding fuel and to be allowed to fly on to Germany, a Moroccan airport source said.
There was no immediate information on the identity or motives of the hijackers.