Hijacked Jet Touches Down in Germany
A Turkish Cypriot airliner hijacked by pro-Chechen gunmen landed here Friday night after refueling in Bulgaria.
Officials at the Munich airport were in contact with the hijackers, said airport spokesman Hans-Joachim Bues. He said 101 passengers and eight crew were on board the Boeing 727. It was not immediately clear how many hijackers there were or their nationalities.
The head of the board of directors for Turkish Cypriot Airlines, Umit Utku, told Show TV in Ankara, Turkey, that the hijackers said they intended to free the passengers after arriving in Munich.
“They say that they will give up the plane and let the passengers [go] free,” he said. “They just wanted to make their voices heard.”
The plane landed in Munich at 11:30 p.m., about 5 1/2 hours after it was commandeered after taking off from northern Cyprus for Istanbul.
The deputy head of Bulgaria’s national security service, Vladimir Markov, identified the hijackers as Chechens and said they were armed with pistols.
However, Hakki Atun, premier of Turkish Cyprus, said on Bulgaria’s Channel D that the hijackers might be Russian.
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