The Ariana flight was hijacked during a domestic flight. The plane was diverted to Tashkent (TAS), Uzbekistan. Food and fuel were provided there. Ten passengers were released before the airplane took off again. It then landed at Aktyubinsk (AKX), Kazakhstan. Three passengers were released there and fuel was added for a flight to Moscow-Sheremetyevo (SVO), Russia. At Moscow nine more passengers were released. After Moscow the plane continued to London-Stansted Airport (STN). Nine more passengers were released of the course of three days. On February 9, four men, including the pilot and first officer, escaped from a cockpit window. The remaining passengers were released on February 10. Eighty-nine of the 166 passengers remaining and crew members requested asylum in Britain, while the other 77 people returned to Afghanistan. Of the 89 people who remained, 12 were charged in connection with the hijacking.