Canary Islands plane hijack ends

The hijacking of an Air Mauritania plane on the Spanish Canary Islands has ended.

The hijacking of an Air Mauritania plane on the Spanish Canary Islands has ended.

A single suspect was arrested, Spanish media said.

Emergency services earlier said several people had been wounded by gunfire. No further details were immediately available.

"Fortunately the hijacking incident has ended favourably," Jose Segura, a government representative in the Canary Islands, told RNE. He added that 71 passengers and 8 crew were on the plane.

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The Boeing 737 had landed at a military airport in Gran Canaria and was immediately surrounded by paramilitary Civil Guard police.

Those forces moved in and ended the stand-off a short time later.

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.

"There was at least one armed person on board. We don't know his identity," said the head of the Mauritanian state news agency, Moussa Hamed.

The plane had been originally scheduled to fly on from Nouadhibou to the Spanish Canary Islands.

It was not clear what the motive of the hijacking was.