Saturday
18 Aug 2007
Syrian and Turk Hijack Cyprus to Istanbul Flight, Claim Al Qaeda Tie
By Annie Jacobsen in category The Al-Qaeda Threat
A Syrian Passport holder, who authorities say may be Palestinian, and a Turkish man hijacked an Atlasjet Airlines flight from Cyprus to Istanbul earlier today and demanded to be taken to Iran or Syria. Alaaddin Yuksel, the Governor of Antalya, Turkey, told reporters that the men claimed to be members of al Qaeda. The ordeal is over an the men have surrendered. All the hostages have been released. From CNN:
Witnesses said the incident started shortly after the flight had taken off from Ercan airport in Turkish-recognized Northern Cyprus when two men from the back of the plane rushed to the front and tried to break open the cockpit door.
When their attempts failed, witnesses said the men began talking to the flight attendants in a mix of Arabic and English and asked to be taken to either Iran or Syria.
Passenger Ercan Tekkan told Reuters that thought the plane was going to crash:
"The plane made some maneuvers and we thought the plane was going to crash … Then the plane landed and the pilots escaped from the cockpit while the hijackers kept kicking the cockpit door," he said.
Another passenger, Barkin Inan, told CNN the experience was "terrifying" but noneless tried to summon fellow passengers to action.
"They [the hijackers] looked anxious and were sweating. They went towards the cockpit. I shouted 'hijackers' to warn the other passengers but most of them were asleep," he said.
After the pilots made an emergency landing, the pilots fled the plane. This is an unusual move in a hijacking, (i.e. the captain stays with the ship) but the CEO of the airline's parent company explained why:
Aydin Kiziltan, CEO of Worldfocus, which owns the plane and had leased it to Atlas-Jet, said the pilots had also left the aircraft to prevent the hijackers from forcing them to fly the plane. The pilots left the plane through the cockpit window under orders from security forces, aviation authorities said.
Atlasjet CEO Tuncay Doganer told reporters:
"The adventure that started early in the morning finally came to an end…With the two hijackers having surrendered, the incident ended with no bloodshed."
It remains unclear what weapons the men used to hijack the plane. Most news agencies are reporting that the men claimed to have a bomb and one was armed with a knife. Apparently, a third passenger is being considered as a possible accomplice.