First photos: Passengers prepare to exit hijacked #ET702 in Geneva; hijacker (possibly a pilot) reportedly in custody

misstripleem | 2:07 AM on February 17, 2014

Ethiopian Airlines flight 702 on runway, Geneva Airport diverted from Rome after crew sent mayday 'hijacking' signal pic.twitter.com/5zQhM8LNft

— Harriet Hadfield ?? (@harriethadfield) February 17, 2014

It’s a relief to see Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 ready to unload passengers who have been on a harrowing journey. Scheduled to land in Rome earlier this evening, the plane was reportedly hijacked and landed in Geneva after circling overhead. CNN (which finally woke up, it seems) now reports that all passengers and crew are safe and that the hijacker is allegedly in Swiss police custody.

#ET702 hijackers arrested said Swiss police to #CNN, all the passengers and crew are safe

— Aviation&Consulting (@AviationCons) February 17, 2014

Let’s hope the passengers all get out safely and get some rest soon–and that truth and justice in this case are served quickly.

Twitchy will continue, as always, to monitor and update.

Update: Reports coming in that officials have disclosed that the hijacker was one of the pilots, which is not a surprise to Twitter users who concluded the same from air traffic control chatter hours ago.

According to Swiss media, the PILOT was arrested. This pilot was seeking asylum, which has been corroborated by audio from the ATC tower.

— Chris (@4cchild) February 17, 2014

https://twitter.com/RyanKrautkreme1/status/435307449738743808

Wait so the hijacker of #ET702 was the pilot of the plane?

— Twitcapper (@horseracing4beg) February 17, 2014

@jlelo Officials are reporting that the pilot was the hijacker.

— Woman from Ware (@WareWoman) February 17, 2014

More passengers de-planing:

Passengers aboard hijacked #ET702 seen filing off plane with arms up in air, according to AFP reporter at the scene.

— Jenny Vaughan (@jennyvaughan) February 17, 2014