Hijack begins with smile

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 9

Hijack begins with smile

NZPA-Reuter Istanbul The man in the Turkish soldier’s uniform smiled at chief hostess Asuman Yildirim and asked politely if he could enter the cockpit. His request was turned down, but another man approached with a gun and repeated the demand. The hijack of a Turkish airlines DC9 on a domestic flight had begun. Miss Yildirim said: “We were five minutes into the flight. The soldier came to the section where we were

preparing refreshments. He smiled, a bit like an imbecile actually. He wanted to enter the cockpit.” But following Turkish Airlines’ rules, she opened the cockpit door for his armed comrade. Two more men showed themselves at the back of the aircraft, one of them clutching what another hostess said was “like a stick wrapped in a napkin.” The hijackers, who identified themselves as Left-wing guerrillas, said it was an

explosive and ordered the pilot to fly to Bulgaria. The passengers included five senior executives of Citibank, the second biggest commercial bank in the United States. One of them, Michael Kelland, was asked about their reaction when they learned the hijackers intended to shoot them one by one if their demands were not met. “We were discouraged,” he . said. The passengers said that when two of the hijackers.

left the plane, one of those remaining was quickly overpowered. But the other shot wildly into the crowd of attackers before being disarmed. They said both hijackers were severely beaten and one of them had jumped out of the plane to escape the angry passengers. Another of the Americans, . Bill Pitts, said: “Suddenly everyone was on them. We’re so grateful to the Turkish crew and passengers. That’s why we’re alive now.”