Drama on Turkish tarmac ends after hijackers give up, free all

The identity of the hijackers was still unclear: the transport minister of Turkish-backed breakaway northern Cyprus, Salih Usar, said they were two Iranians protesting against the United States. But Turkey’s Cihan news agency reported one was Palestinian and the other Turkish.

Soon after the plane was forced to land for refueling — as it did not have enough fuel to go to Tehran as the hijackers wanted — most of the passengers were either released or broke out through emergency exits. The pilots also left but four passengers and two crew members had remained on board as negotiations took place. The passengers said they felt they came close to death when two men claiming to be members of al-Qaeda commandeered their aircraft with threats of a bomb.

“We almost tasted death. I pray to Allah that no one lives through what we did,” a male passenger Abdullah told the CNN-Turk news channel.

“One of the hijackers was sitting right behind me. I actually thought he looked quite handsome,” an elderly woman passenger, who did not give her name, said. “About 15-20 minutes after take-off, he suddenly jumped up from his seat, ran towards the cockpit, and landed karate kicks on the door. His friend immediately rushed to help him,” she said.