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Tripoli-based gov't frees 2 detained crew of foreign plane

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Libya has released two detained crew members of a Ukrainian aircraft that landed earlier at Ghadames Airport in western Libya, according to a source from the attorney general's office.

The source said that the public prosecutor released a Russian citizen and a Tajikistani citizen of the crew that landed at Ghadames Airport, about 550 km southwest of the capital Tripoli, without permission from the Tripoli authorities.

Investigations have proved that the crew members were not involved in any hostile acts or movement affecting Libya's security.

The Tripoli-based government announced earlier to have detained a Ukrainian airbus E-300 leased from the United Arab Emirates with seven crew members onboard after its unpermitted landing at Ghadames Airport on Nov. 14, 2014.

However, the internationally recognized Libyan interim government, which is based in eastern Libya, confirmed that the plane was carrying humanitarian aids to southwestern Libya. The Libyan interim government condemned the detention.

The crew is composed of seven members: three Russians, two Ukrainians, a Tajikistani and a Kazakhstani. The Foreign Ministry in Tripoli released four of them last December. Endit