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Attempted Hijacking of Turkey-Bound Plane Reported Hijacking of Turkish Aircraft to Sochi Is Foiled
(35 minutes later)
A passenger aboard a commercial airline flight from Ukraine to Turkey tried to hijack it to Sochi, Russia, on Friday after the Winter Olympics had started there but the plane landed safely in Istanbul, Turkish news reports said. ISTANBUL — A passenger aboard a commercial airline flight from Ukraine to Turkey tried to hijack it to Sochi, Russia, on Friday after the Winter Olympics had started there, but the plane landed safely in Istanbul and the hijacker, apparently thinking he was in Sochi, was taken into custody, Turkish news reports said.
The passenger, who was not identified, claimed to be armed with a bomb, the Turkish television stations NTV and CNNTurk quoted a Transport Ministry undersecretary, Habib Soluk, as saying. The passenger, identified as a male Ukrainian citizen, claimed to be armed with a bomb, the Turkish television stations NTV and CNNTurk quoted a Transport Ministry under secretary, Habib Soluk, as saying.
It was not immediately clear whether the passenger had been forcibly subdued or whether a bomb or other explosive was aboard. CNNTurk said the crew of the plane, a Pegasus Airlines flight with 110 passengers aboard, had fooled the hijacker into believing the aircraft had landed in Sochi instead of Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, where members of the special security forces entered the aircraft and detained him.
The aircraft was identified as a Pegasus Airlines flight from Kharkov, Ukraine. Television footage showed a Pegasus flight arriving in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport. It was not immediately clear how the crew would have deluded the hijacker. Nor was it immediately clear whether a bomb or other explosive was aboard the plane.
“While the plane was in the air, one of the passengers said that there was a bomb on board and asked the plane to not land in Sabiha Gokcen but rather to land in Sochi,” Mr. Soluk was quoted as saying. Turkish news reports said he was taken to the Istanbul Security Headquarters, as television footage showed the plane parked with fire brigades and ambulances surrounding it.
Turkey’s Transport, Maritime and Communications Ministry, in a statement quoted by the semiofficial Anadolu News Agency, said the aircraft landed safely “under all necessary measures.”
The Russian authorities have imposed intense security on the Winter Olympics because of the threat of terrorist attacks on the games, which began on Thursday and last through Feb. 23.The Russian authorities have imposed intense security on the Winter Olympics because of the threat of terrorist attacks on the games, which began on Thursday and last through Feb. 23.