Turkish plane hijacked, most passengers escape

ANKARA, Saturday, (AP) – Two men claiming to be carrying a bomb hijacked a Turkish passenger plane heading from northern Cyprus to Istanbul today. Most passengers escaped the aircraft after it landed at an airport on the Turkish Mediterranean coast and security forces were trying to convince the hijackers to release the last five hostages left on board.

Passengers leaving the hijacked Atlas-Jet plane

The Atlas-Jet airliner, with 136 passengers and six crew on board, left Ercan airport in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus at 6:45 a.m. (0345 GMT). Shortly after takeoff, the hijackers asked that the plane be diverted to Iran but the pilots landed the plane at Antalya airport, saying they needed to refuel, said Tuncay Doganer, CEO of the private Atlas-Jet airline company.

Most of the passengers managed to escape from the rear exit of the plane while the hijackers were releasing the women and children from the front exit, passengers who left the aircraft said. Some sustained injuries during the escape, Doganer said. At least two passengers claimed that the hijackers were members of al-Qaeda, but others said they had not heard the men say that.

Turkish Cypriot Transport Minister Salih Usar said the two hijackers were Iranian and that they had hijacked the plane in order to protest U.S. policies. He did not elaborate. Passengers said there were two hijackers on board and that they spoke Arabic between themselves. Doganer would not reveal the identity or nationality of the hijackers. ''We are Muslims,'' passengers quoted one of the hijackers as saying.