WORLD : Soviet Pilot Requests Asylum
A Soviet pilot landed a small plane on a beach on the Black Sea coast today and requested political asylum, a government official said.
Tass news agency reported in Moscow that an AN-2 plane was hijacked in Izmail, near the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
The Turkish official said the pilot was alone in the 12-seat Soviet passenger plane when it landed near Kumcagiz village in Kocaeli province at 1:30 p.m.
There are no airports in the province, and the plane landed on a beach known as Kefken, the official said. He said the Soviets immediately asked Turkey to return the plane and the pilot.
The semiofficial Anatolia news agency identified the pilot as Valeri Yurevic, 29. He was reportedly taken to a police station for questioning.
Tass said the pilot had resigned several months ago from his job with an Odessa air crew. It did not give further details.
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