Earlier today, a man hijacked a Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines, threatening to blow up the plane. The aircraft, which was on a domestic flight between Diyarbakir and Istanbul, diverted to Ankara. News reports about the incident say that none of the 174 passengers and six crew on board the plane were injured.The alleged hijacker was identified by Turkey's Anatolian News Agency as Mehmet Gökşin Göl'ün. He was taken into custody at Ankara's Esenboga Airport after having been "rendered ineffective" by officers of the Ankara Police Anti-Terror Division.
An item about the hijacking on the CNN International website quoted a passenger from the flight who said that the alleged hijacker "did not look suspicious" and did not appear to be threatening anyone, but that he tried to approach the cockpit, and told the flight crew he had "something in his belt" and wanted to fly to Iran.
A Reuters report, citing the Anatolian News Agency as its source, described the alleged hijacker as an unemployed man from Diyarbakir with a drug-related criminal record. According to Reuters, Turkish officials denied an earlier media report that a woman had also been arrested in connection with the incident.
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