Hijackers Surrender in Turkey

By Rick Moran

Two men who hijacked a Turkish airplane shortly after takeoff have surrendered with no harm to the passengers according to authorities:

Two men who hijacked a Turkish passenger plane in an apparent protest against the U.S. surrendered to authorities Saturday after holding some crew members and passengers hostage for more than four hours.

No one was hurt. The men claimed to be carrying a bomb and demanded that the Atlasjet Airlines plane headed from northern Cyprus to Istanbul be diverted to Iran.

The plane, which had taken off from northern Cyprus headed for Istanbul, landed at Antalya airport after pilots said they needed to refuel.

"The adventure that started early in the morning finally came to an end," said Tuncay Doganer, the CEO of Atlasjet. "With the two hijackers having surrendered, the incident ended with no bloodshed."

Most of the passengers escaped while the hijackers were releasing women and children. They left by climbing out a rear door that had been opened because the air conditioning had been turned off.

No word on exactly what the hijackers were protesting. One of the men carried a Syrian passport and claimed to be Palestinian. The other was a Turkish national.

The hijackers had originally asked to be taken to Tehran. The Iranian authorities met to discuss the request but the situation resolved itself before they could make a decision.

Now that would have been an interesting decision...