ISTANBUL, 19 August 2007 — Two men wielding a fake bomb and claiming Al-Qaeda ties hijacked a Turkish plane yesterday, holding passengers and crew hostage before surrendering peacefully in Antalya more than four hours later, authorities said.
It was the fifth hijacking of a Turkish plane in four years by people falsely claiming to be carrying explosives or arms, despite increased security at airports following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
The hijackers’ motive remained unclear. One of the men was Turkish and the other was believed to be a Palestinian carrying a Syrian passport, Transport Minister Osman Gunes said. Earlier, Turkish Cypriot authorities said the men were Iranians protesting US policies.
The alleged bomb turned out to be made of clay dough, CNN-Turk television reported, citing police sources.
The men were among 136 passengers on board an Atlasjet flight that departed from Ercan in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus yesterday morning, officials said. Six crew members were on the flight.
The suspects told police during initial questioning that they tried to storm the cockpit shortly after takeoff, said Alaaddin Yuksel, governor of Antalya. Passengers said they failed to break the door down.
“They claimed to have bombs,” passenger Erhan Erkul told NTV television.
The hijackers then ordered the pilots to divert the flight to Iran, telling passengers they were linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network and armed with explosives, officials said. The pilots persuaded the hijackers to let them land at the Mediterranean resort of Antalya in southwest Turkey instead to refuel, officials said.
After landing, the pilots left the plane through the cockpit window to prevent the hijackers from forcing them to fly the plane and shut off the power, said Aydin Kiziltan, chief executive of Worldfocus, the company that leased the plane to Atlasjet.
A 20-member anti-terror team was dispatched to Antalya, 545 km south of Ankara, as a precaution.
One passenger told NTV that the hijackers allowed the crew to serve them water and promised not to harm them. “We are Muslims,” passengers quoted one of the hijackers as saying. But without air conditioning, some passengers fainted. The hijackers agreed to open one of the exit doors to let in air, and then allowed the women and children to get off the plane. Groups of men then escaped by breaking down the rear emergency exit, passengers said.
Some sustained injuries during the frantic escape, including one with a broken pelvis, authorities said.
The hijackers surrendered without incident several hours later, Gunes said.
“The adventure that started early in the morning finally came to an end,” said Tuncay Doganer, chief executive of Atlasjet. “With the two hijackers surrendering, the incident ended with no bloodshed.”
Gunes said the hijackers, identified as Mehmet Resat Ozlu, of Turkey, and Mommen Abdul Aziz Talikh, told an official they “apologized to the Turkish nation” for seizing the plane.
The passengers, who had been kept at Antalya airport, later were flown to Istanbul on another Atlasjet plane, the private news agency Dogan reported.
