Air Mauritania Boeing 737 hijacked

An Air Mauritania Boeing 737 passenger plane was hijacked on an internal flight and flew to the Spanish Canary Islands where the hijacker was arrested, Spanish officials and media said.

Spanish emergency services said several people were injured by gunfire in the hijacking, but José Segura, a government representative in the Canary Islands, told RNE national radio he couldn't confirm or deny talk of shots.

He said one woman on the plane was suffering from shock. "Fortunately the hijacking incident has ended favourably," Mr Segura said. He said the hijacker gave himself up. The plane, which was diverted while on its way to the northern Mauritanian port of Nouadhibou, had stopped for fuel in the Western Sahara after being seized by one or more hijackers who demanded to fly to France, Mauritanian officials said.

It then flew on to Las Palmas in the Spanish Canary Islands.