Incident Overview

Date: Thursday 29 October 1998
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-4Y0
Owner/operator: THY Turkish Airlines
Registration Number: TC-JDF
Location: Diyarbakir Airport (DIY) – ÿ Trkiye
Phase of Flight: En route
Casualties: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 40
Component Affected: AircraftAircraft
Category: Unlawful Interference
On the 75th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, a hijacked ThY flight 487, departing Ankara-Esenboga Airport (ESB) to Lausanne, Switzerland, demanded refueling at Sofia, Bulgaria. The pilot agreed to land at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, but the hijacker believed they were in Sofia. Negotiations failed, and the hijacker demanded Lausanne as a symbolic location of the Turkish Republic’s creation. Police stormed the plane, resulting in the hijacker’s death in the cockpit. No passengers were evacuated, and the hijacker did not release any passengers.On the 75th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, a hijacked ThY flight 487, departing Ankara-Esenboga Airport (ESB) to Lausanne, Switzerland, demanded refueling at Sofia, Bulgaria. The pilot agreed to land at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, but the hijacker believed they were in Sofia. Negotiations failed, and the hijacker demanded Lausanne as a symbolic location of the Turkish Republic’s creation. Police stormed the plane, resulting in the hijacker’s death in the cockpit. No passengers were evacuated, and the hijacker did not release any passengers.

Description

A man with a handgun and a grenade hijacked THY flight 487, which had departed Adana Airport (ADA) at approximately 19:45 en route to Ankara-Esenboga Airport (ESB), Turkey. The hijacker demanded to be taken to Lausanne, Switzerland, but agreed to the pilot’s request to land at Sofia, Bulgaria, for refueling. The pilot, however, landed at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at approximately 21:00, while the hijacker believed they were in Sofia. The hijacker told the passengers that he was protesting the Turkish government’s “dirty war” against ethnic Kurds in Turkey. The pilot also read a statement from the hijacker demanding to be taken to Lausanne because it was there that the modern Turkish state was created in a treaty signed 75 years earlier. (The hijacking occurred during the 75th anniversary celebration of the Turkish Republic.) Although negotiations were conducted, the hijacker did not release any passengers. Approximately seven hours after the plane landed (04:00) Turkish National Police special action teams stormed the plane through the rear door, evacuated some passengers, and killed the hijacker in the cockpit. There were no other injuries. It is not known whether the hijacker acted on his own or on behalf of the PKK. Coincidentally, one week earlier this same plane was prevented from taking off in Strasbourg, France, by protesters trying to prevent the deportation of a Kurd to Turkey.

Source of Information

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/204353.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/204353.stm

Primary Cause

Hijacking of a commercial aircraft.Hijacking of a commercial aircraft.

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