An Emirates airline official denied that one of its jetliners had been hijacked to Yemen on Monday and conveyed engine mishap had forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Aden airport.
The official of the Dubai-based airline added that all passengers and crew on the Dubai to Nairobi flight disembarked securely and were waiting at the Yemeni airport for engineers to repair the engine.
Al Jazeera: Plane Hijacked
Earlier, the Qatari-based al-Jazeera channel reported that the plane had been hijacked to Yemen.
Yemeni sources confirmed that the Emirates airliner, a Boeing 777-200, had been hijacked, while UAE sources confirmed that the Aircraft landed safely in Aden Monday after a cockpit warning light suggested mechanical trouble.
"One of the indicator lights came on in the cockpit and the captain decided to go to the nearest airport," said Francis Barton of the Dubai government-owned company. "It has just landed safely," she added.
The 272 passengers and 15 crew on flight EK 423, a Boeing 777-200, from the emirate of Dubai to Nairobi, were unharmed. "There was no evacuation and no one was injured," Barton said. "We do not know what caused the indicator light to come on, the problem is being checked out now."
Emirates News Agency (WAM) said that the Emirates airline denied that any of its planes had been hijacked. The airline said that one of its aircraft which landed in Aden airport today was forced to land because the captain of the aircraft suspected a technical fault in one of the engines.
In Aden, airport sources said the aircraft had been hijacked.
"There is one hijacker on board," an airport source told AFP. "It has just landed." However, Barton said the source was wrong – Albawaba.com
