A Pegasus Airlines plane was forced to land today after an attempted hijacker claimed that “there was a bomb on board.” The hijacker reportedly told airline officials that there was a bomb in the cargo hold and demanded that the plane divert its intended course from Istanbul, Turkey to Sochi; the current site of the Winter Olympics. According to the Turkish media, the plane sent out a hijacking signal and two F-16 jets were scrambled to escort the plane which landed shortly afterwards in a safe zone at the Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul.
The flight left from Kharkov, Ukraine and was destined to land in Istanbul. The hijacker is allegedly Ukrainian, although it is not known at this time whether that played any role in his decision to have the plane land in Sochi. Further, Turkish officials had no comment on the motive of the suspect and did not comment on a photograph, supposedly of the suspect, taken from inside the plane of a man in a sports jersey surrounded by uniformed officials. Video was released of Turkish authorities searching the plane after its landing and the suspect is currently in the custody of the Turkish authorities. No further details of his status are available at this time.
Security against potential terrorist attacks in Sochi has been strict as the Winter Games officially opened earlier today. American officials were contacted by the Turkish government regarding the incident and the spokeswoman for the National Security Agency, Caitlin Hayden, said that “We’re monitoring the situation and have been in touch with the Turkish government.”