Hijacking
On the day of the hijacking the plane had an entirely Sudanese passenger complement, the only exceptions being a British citizen and an Italian military attaché. Mohamed Abdu Altif (also referred to as Mohamed Abdelatif Mahamat), a 26-year-old from Al-Fashir, in North Darfur, entered the cockpit of the aircraft at 09:00 local time (0600 GMT), approximately half an hour after takeoff from Khartoum International Airport. He ordered the pilot to fly to Rome, Italy and then on to London, England. It was originally mistakenly reported that his weapon was an AK-47 assault rifle, but subsequent reports stated that the weapon was in fact a handgun.
After the pilot explained that there was not enough fuel on board to reach London, he agreed to fly to Chad. He made no threats or other communication to the passengers, none of whom became aware the aircraft had been hijacked. When the aircraft entered Chadian airspace it was met by French Mirage F-1 fighter jets stationed in N'Djamena, which escorted the plane until it landed at N'Djamena International Airport at 0830 GMT, where it was immediately surrounded by Chadian troops. Twenty minutes of negotiations followed, after which the hijacker allowed all the occupants of the aircraft to leave before surrendering.
Read more about this topic: Air West Flight 612