Turkish police detained a man who stormed the cockpit of a passenger plane on Tuesday and threatened to blow it up unless the flight was diverted to Iran, officials said. The man, identified as Mehmet Goksen Gol, claimed to have an explosive device on board, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said. The private Pegasus airline flight was travelling from Diyarbakir, in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, to Istanbul.
The man initially said he wanted the plane diverted to Ankara and then changed his mind and demanded that it change its route to Iran, Yildirim said. The pilots landed the plane at Ankara's Esenboga airport, where the man was arrested. The man was not armed and did not have explosives but had a mobile phone that was made to look like a bomb, Yildirim said. Yildirim said the man had not made any political demands and the reason he wanted to divert the plane was under investigation. No injuries were reported.
The man was being questioned by anti-terrorism police, CNN-Turk television said. There were 178 passengers and crew on board, including three babies, the airline said. None of the passengers were hurt. Firat Keles, a passenger on board, told CNN-Turk television that the man could be seen reading the Kopran during the flight. There was no panic on board, he said. |