Two hijackers, claiming to be Darfur rebels, on Wednesday released all 87 passengers from a Sudanese jet at a remote Libyan airport, keeping the crew captive for a reported bid to fly to France.

“All of the passengers have left the plane,” a Libyan official said from Kufra oasis where the aircraft was forced to land on Tuesday evening after being hijacked en route from Darfur’s main city of Nyala to Khartoum.

“The two hijackers and the seven crew are still inside. We are continuing to negotiate with them,” he said, requesting anonymity. A Sudanese official said there were eight crew on board. The jet was granted permission to land by Libyan authorities at the isolated World War II-era airport in the southeast of the country, close to the Sudanese border, after it ran short on fuel. The passengers had reportedly been given water but no food and some fainted when the air conditioning failed in the searing desert heat. Sudan called on the Libyan authorities to arrest and deport to Khartoum the “terrorist” hijackers.