Sochi hijack attempt foiled as Turkish jet lands in Istanbul
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 February, 2014, 9:21am
UPDATED : Saturday, 08 February, 2014, 9:28am
Bloomberg
A man (centre) who attempted to hijack an airliner from Ukraine is escorted by police after the plane was forced down at Sabiha Goksen airport in Istanbul. Photo: AFP
Turkish authorities said an attempt to hijack a passenger plane and divert it to Sochi, where the Winter Olympics started today, was foiled as the aircraft landed as scheduled in Istanbul.
The would-be hijacker has been “rendered ineffective” and all passengers have disembarked, Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said, according to the official Anatolia news agency. “The operation is complete,” he said.
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The civilian plane operated by Pegasus Airlines and carrying 110 passengers was flying from Kharkov in Ukraine to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport when a passenger demanded that it change course to Sochi, Turkish Transportation Ministry Undersecretary Mehmet Habib Soluk said on CNN-Turk television.
Two F-16 jets from the Turkish Air Force were dispatched to escort the plane after it entered the country’s airspace, he said. Meanwhile, the would-be hijacker, a Ukrainian citizen, was tricked into thinking he was landing in Sochi as screens in the cockpit and cabin were darkened, Soluk said.
Passengers of private Turkish company Pegasus leave the plane at the Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul. Photo: AP
No bomb was found on the flight, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyinis said by phone from Kiev. The man who made the threat was “very drunk,” Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing Ukraine’s security service press center.
Air traffic at Sabiha Gokcen resumed at 9 p.m. local time, about three hours after the plane’s landing, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said.
