Aug 18: A Turkish passenger plane heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus was hijacked today and forced to land for refueling in Antalya, a southern city of Turkey on 0805 GMT, the airline official confirmed. There were 136 passengers and 06 crewmembers in the dock.
According to eyewitness, two persons having a knife and a package seem to be a bomb entered in the cockpit. The pilot of the plane tried to communicate them. They forced the pilot to land the plan at Antalya, the southern province of Turkey for refueling. The accused forced the passengers to open the rear door and left the plane at Antalya. Only two crewmembers and six passengers are still in the dock, said Tuncay Doganer, CEO of Atlas Jet. “There are a small number of people remaining. I estimate that in short period this operation will be finished”, said Doganer. “The hijackers were Turkish and were the members of Al Qaeda. They wanted the plane to go to Iran”, added Tuncay.
NTV, a private broadcaster reported that in the video interview one eyewitness had said they were Turkish and were the members of Al Qaeda, they wanted flew the plane to Iran. One the other hand another eyewitness told that the hijackers spoke Arabic and said they wanted to go to Syria. They were two in numbers, NTV reported. TV footage showed passengers running from the plane’s side and back doors at Antalya airport.
Plane hijacks and bomb threats are common in Turkey, where a number of radical groups ranging from Kurdish separatists to far-left militants operate. In the last year or so several incidents have been resolved without any passengers being harmed.
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