Man Attempts Hijacking of Turkish Jet

April 10, 2007

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Police on Tuesday detained a man who tried to hijack a plane and divert it to Iran by threatening to blow it up, CNN-Turk television reported.

The hijacked commercial plane was travelling from southeast Turkey to Istanbul Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained a man who threatened to blow up a passenger plane to divert it to Iran, officials said.

The man, identified as Mehmet Goksen Gol, entered the cockpit and threatened to blow up the plane, claiming to have an explosive device on board, Ankara Deputy Governor Hayati Soylu said. The man was not armed and did not have explosives.

He was detained at Ankara’s Esenboga airport where pilots landed the Pegasus airline flight, which was going from Diyarbakir to Istanbul.

There were 178 passengers on board, including three babies, the airline said. None of the passengers were hurt.

There was no information as to why the man wanted to divert the plane to Iran.

Firat Keles, a passenger on board, told CNN-Turk television that the man could be seen reading the Quran during the flight. There was no panic on board, he said.

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