The BBC has the exciting video footage of the passengers fleeing HERE.
An unidentified man raises his hands as others stand on the tarmac near the hijacked Atlasjet aircraft, at Antalya Airport August 18, 2007. A Turkish plane heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus was hijacked on Saturday, but the hijackers gave themselves up and released all hostages five hours after forcing the plane to land in Turkey. CEO of Atlas Jet airline Tuncay Doganer confirmed that the hijack of the passenger plane, which was bringing 136 passengers from northern Cyprus's Ercan airport, had come to an end. (REUTERS/Fatma Unal/Anatolian)
But who were exactly these hijackers? There are two different versions to this story.
The BBC reported this morning:
Two men who tried to hijack a Turkish plane have surrendered after all 136 passengers and crew escaped unharmed. The Atlas Jet plane was flying from Northern Cyprus to Istanbul when the two men tried to divert it to Iran.Meanwhile... The Iranian Fars News service says the hijackers were Al Qaeda members (trying to get to Iran):
Instead, the pilot landed the plane in the southern city of Antalya, claiming it needed refuelling.
Turkey's interior ministry said one of the hijackers was a Turkish national and the other had a Syrian passport. Their motives are not yet known.
Earlier, Northern Cyprus officials said the two men were Iranian nationals protesting against actions of the United States.
The hijackers announced after the plane landed that women and children could leave.
But when the emergency exits were opened almost everyone rushed out, the BBC's Turkey correspondent Sarah Rainsford reports.
Many leapt from the wing of the plane to safety.
The two pilots also jumped from the cockpit on the tarmac, in order to avoid having to fly the plane to Tehran.
Eventually all passengers and crew members were released unharmed and the hijackers surrendered.
Plane headed from Cyprus to Istanbul hijacked by men claiming to be al-Qaeda members.Al Qaeda or Iran?
Hijackers claiming to have a bomb and to be members of al-Qaeda hijacked a Turkish passenger plane heading from northern Cyprus to Istanbul Saturday.
The hijackers had asked that the plane be diverted to Iran or Syria but the pilots landed the plane at Antalya airport, near Turkey's Mediterranean coast, said Tuncay Doganer, CEO of the private Atlas-Jet airline company.
We'll find out soon enough.
Al Qaeda or Iran?
ReplyDeleteWhoever it is, I'm sure the MSM will prop them up to be the victim somehow.
I'm betting it's neither... perhaps just some loony copycats. If it had been either al Qaeda or Iran, they would have either killed everyone (al Qaeda), or succeeded in their hijack mission.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the possibility also exists that this was an attempt by either Iran or al Qaeda to stage a hijacking where the hijack victims are not completely sure what the outcome will be. If they could make passengers think there might be a chance they could live, it would be much easier to prevent people taking action against them.
Isn't it sad that I am inclined to believe the FARS acccount as more likely to be true than the BBC account?
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ReplyDeletemeantime, i'm hoping they're both singing
like canaries.. ah.. i can dream can't i?? ;)
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Can't be al-Qaeda, everyone knows according to MSM that the only place al-Qaeda is at, is in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they were just going to change planes in Tehran.