Gaddafi jets take off from Tripoli

Africa

Reports say three private planes are heading to three different directions, having taken off from Libyan capital. Last Modified: 09 Mar 2011 11:32 GMT Email Article Print Article Share Article Send Feedback

Al Jazeera is getting reports that three of Liyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's private planes have taken off from a military airstrip near Tripoli. Karl Stango-Navarra, a journalist based in Valletta, Malta, told Al Jazeera that the three jets are flying in three different directions. "One is suggested to be Vienna, the other is supposed to be Athens in Greece, and the other is Cairo, Egypt," Stango-Navarra said. "Obviously, nobody knows who may be aboard the planes," he said. However, he added that one of the planes, which are being monitored by NATO, has been known to have made flights to Belarus and Jordan. The AFP news agency also has reports of a plane belonging to Gaddafi with unknown passengers on board crossing into Greek airspace en route to Egypt on Wednesday. "A private plane of Gaddafi has crossed Greek airspace en route to Egypt,"  a Greek defence ministry source told AFP, adding: "We do not know who is on board." A Greek air force source said the plane was a Libyan Airlines Falcon 900  that normally carries VIPs, though the pilot denied that dignitaries were on  board. "The pilot tabled a flight plan from Tripoli to Cairo," the air force  source said, adding: "The plane crossed southwest of the island of Crete around  an hour ago. It should be landing in Cairo by now."