A plane prepares to land at Mehrabad airport in Tehran on January 18, 2016. (AFP)
August 24, 2021
Armed hijackers took control of a Ukrainian plane and flew it to Iran after it arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians, Russian news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, citing Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister.
“Last Sunday, our plane was hijacked by other people. On Tuesday, the plane was practically stolen from us, it flew into Iran with an unidentified group of passengers onboard instead of airlifting Ukrainians,” Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Yevhenii Yenin was quoted as saying.
“Our next three evacuation attempts were also not successful because our people could not get into the airport,” he added.
The deputy minister did not comment on whether Kiev would seek to retrieve the hijacked aircraft.
A military transport plane with 83 people onboard including 31 Ukrainians arrived in Kiev from Afghanistan on Sunday. Ukraine’s presidency reported that 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while reporters and others who requested evacuation were returned.
Around 100 Ukrainians are still waiting to be evacuated, the presidency added.
Al Arabiya
