Official: Passenger tried to hijack plane to Sochi
Turkish official: Passenger with bomb claim tried to hijack plane to Sochi as Olympics
begin
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A Ukrainian passenger on an Istanbul-bound flight Friday
claimed there was a bomb on board and tried to hijack the plane to Sochi, Russia, where the
Olympics are kicking off, an official said.
The plane from Kharkiv, Ukraine, landed safely at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport,
but 110 passengers are still on board and authorities are trying to convince the alleged
hijacker to give himself up, Habib Soluk, the country's Transport Ministry undersecretary,
told NTV television.
The station reported the man had been subdued, but there was no immediate
confirmation of that. The Interfax news agency cited the Ukrainian Security Service, the
country's main security agency, as saying the passenger who tried to hijack the plane was in a
state of severe alcohol intoxication. It also said he has been pacified, and no weapons or
explosives were found on him, but it was not clear where the information was coming from.
Soluk said the man rose from his seat, shouted that there was bomb on board and tried
to enter the locked cockpit. The pilot signaled that there was a hijack attempt and the airport
was placed on high alert.
"The man was made to believe the plane was heading to Sochi," he said. "We are
hoping that the passengers are evacuated without even a nose-bleed."
Pegasus Airlines confirmed in a brief statement there was a "bomb threat" aboard
their flight from Kharkiv.
The plane's captain, Ilyas Karagulle, signaled that the crew was well, according to
state-run TRT television.
With about 100,000 police, security agents and army troops flooding Sochi, Russia
has pledged to ensure "the safest Olympics in history." But terror fears fueled by recent
suicide bombings have left athletes, spectators and officials worldwide jittery about potential
threats.
Security experts warn that Islamic militants in the Caucasus, who have threatened to
derail the Winter Games that run from Feb. 7-23, could achieve their goal by choosing soft
targets away from the Olympic sites or even outside Sochi.
The back-to-back December suicide bombings of a railway station and a bus in
Volgograd, about 640 kilometers (400 miles) east of Sochi, killed 34 people and
demonstrated the militants' ability to strike with shocking ease. A jihadist group in Dagestan,
the epicenter of the Islamic rebellion against Russia that has engulfed the Caucasus, claimed
responsibility for the Volgograd bombings and has threatened to strike Sochi.
NTV television said that an F-16 fighter plane was scrambled as soon as the pilot
signaled that there was a hijacking attempt.
Source:Associated Press