Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Crisis Ends As Turkish Hijacker Surrenders

Turkish Airlines Flight was Hijacked yesterday, and final news have been coming in after the hijacker surrenders.

A Turkish hijacker who diverted a Turkish airliner to the southern Italian airport of Brindisi on Tuesday handed himself over to police some two hours after landing.

The plane, a Boeing 737 belonging to Turkish Airlines, was intercepted and escorted to Brindisi airport by two Italian military jets.

Turkish Airlines said the plane had been hijacked while traveling from the Albanian capital of Tirana to Istanbul, adding none of the 113 passengers and crew abroad had been hurt.

Shortly before 8 p.m. local time in Italy, the plane's co-pilot disembarked from the plane and began talking to police and other officials.

According to Italian national civil aviation agency ENAC, the hijacker, who had not behaved aggressively, said he was ready to release the passengers.

The motive behind the hijacking was not clear. But ENAC officials said he wanted to give a message to the Vatican pope.

Turkish television said the hijacker wanted to protest against Pope Benedict's planned trip to Turkey in late November.

The hijacker had wanted the plane to land in Rome but was forced by the Italian military jets to divert to Brindisi, report said.