COLOGNE, June 9: The hijack of an Air Malta airliner with about 80 people on board ended peacefully today when two men gave themselves up after handing their weapons to the pilot, German police said.

Police spokesman Werner Schmidt said the two men left the plane with their hands in the air. He said it was not yet clear who the men were or what weapons they had carried but police immediately searched the aircraft and had found no explosives.

Police had earlier reported one hijacker saying he had a bomb and demanding the release of Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who is serving a life sentence in Italy after trying to assassinate the Pope in 1981.

The hijack of the Boeing 737 after it left Malta on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, with 74 passengers and six crew ended without injury.

``They gave themselves up after successful negotiations. All the hostages have been released and were unharmed and in good health,'' Schmidt said. The hijackers had let five people leave the plane earlier, one of them a woman with heart problems.

He said among the hostages were 17 Turks, 32 Libyans, 32 Maltese, one Russian and one US citizen. One of the hijackers, who negotiated with police through a Turkish-speaking interpreter, had initially requested an interview with a television crew, but before this could take place the assailants gave themselves up, Schmidt said.

After landing at the busy Cologne-Bonn airport, the airliner stood at a freight section and German police quickly established contact with one of the hijackers.

Police did not say if they yet knew their identities or nationalities but earlier had reported a demand by one of them. ``He asked for Aali Akca, the Pope's (would-be) assassin, to be released,'' Schmidt said. Pope John Paul was shot in the hand and abdomen as he rode in an open jeep before thousands at his general audience in St Peter's Square in Rome in 1981.

Emergency surgery saved his life. Air Malta spokesman John Saliba said the plane left Malta for Istanbul at 23.45 GMT and was diverted to Cologne ``following a situation that developed on board and demands made by one of the passengers.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.