Hijacker 'held' after unscheduled Swiss landing

Swiss authorities have detained the hijacker of an Italy-bound Ethiopian Airlines flight forced to land Geneva International Airport in Switzerland early on Monday morning, airport security said.

All passengers and crew are confirmed safe and the plane and Swiss authorities released a statement to the media stating: "Hijacker held, situation under control, no injuries," the Guardian reports.

Redwan Hussein, an Ethiopian Government spokesman, said the flight made a scheduled stop in the Sudanese capital Khartoum where the hijacker or hijackers might have boarded the flight, Reuters reports.

"We don't know where they are from or how many they are but it looks like the hijacker or hijackers boarded the flight in Khartoum," Mr Redwan told Reuters shortly before the announcement by Swiss authorities.

Flight ET-702 took off from the Ethopian capital Addis Ababa at 12.30am local time and was scheduled to land in Rome about 4.40am.

Airline tracking website flightradar24.com showed the jet circled around the Swiss airport several times before landing.

The claimed hijacking was first reported by AirlineReporter.com, which said the flight was passing over Sudan when it started broadcasting the code "7500", which reportedly indicates a "hijacking".