Co-Pilot of Hijacked plane arrested in Geneva

The suspect, an Ethiopian man born in 1983, locked himself in the cockpit before landing the plane in Geneva.

After leaving the aircraft through a window using a rope, he then surrendered to police asking for asylum in Switzerland.

The rope used by the co-pilot to leave the plane

There were no injuries to the 202 passengers or crew.

Flight ET702 was on its way from Addis Ababa and was scheduled to arrive in Rome at 4.40am. Instead it landed in Switzerland at 6am local time.

Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon told reporters the suspect "wanted asylum in Switzerland" and "that's the motivation of the hijacking".

The path taken by flight ET702. (Pic Flightradar24).

Swiss federal authorities are now investigating the incident and are set to press charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The pilot is reported to have issued a mayday as the plane flew over Sudan.

FlightRadar 24 - an app for mobile devices - showed the flight circling over Geneva several times before landing.

The plane had about 20 minutes of fuel left

The Boeing 767-300 plane had just 20 minutes of fuel left when it landed.

Sky News's Harriet Hadfield said the airport had not yet opened when the plane hit the runway - and passengers had to wait until it did before disembarking.

She said: "It must have been a very terrifying experience for the passengers on board.

"It seems to have been the case that passengers had to wait until the airport opened. Happily there are no injuries but it must have been a very, very frightening experience."

The plane had been on its way to Rome when it was hijacked

Geneva International Airport opened at 7am and is now operating as normal but there have been cancellations and delays.

Ethiopian Airlines said it was making "immediate arrangements to fly its esteemed customers on-board the flight to their intended destinations"