Ukrainian plane carrying international evacuees 'hijacked' in Afghanistan

KYIV: An evacuee plane of Ukraine carrying international passengers from Kabul has reportedly been hijacked after it took off earlier this and has allegedly been redirected towards Iran, ARY News reported Tuesday quoting the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister.

Yevhenii Yenin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, confirmed their plane has been hijacked by unidentified men as soon as it took off on Sunday from Kabul to evacuate people after the Taliban takeover.

The evacuee plane of Ukraine was carrying international passengers in an evacuation drive but it was hijacked halfway and rerouted towards Iran, Yevhenii Yenin said.

16,000 evacuated from Kabul airport in past 24 hours: Pentagon

“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,” an international media outlet quoted Yenin. “Our next three evacuation attempts were also not successful because our people could not get into the airport.”

However, responding to the news, Iran said the plane made a stopover for refueling in Mashhad and now it’s on its way back to Kyiv already.

The Iranian civil aviation authority has refuted the claims by Ukraine’s top official and said plane was never hijacked.