Turkey F-16 forces down hijacked airliner told to fly to Sochi

An ambulance leaves Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul late February 7, 2014. Turkish security forces seized a Ukrainian man who made a bomb threat and tried to hijack a passenger plane, demanding to go to the Winter Olympics venue of Sochi, a Transport Ministry official told Reuters on Friday. Earlier Turkey had scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to accompany the Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane with 110 passengers on board as it landed at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport after a flight from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. REUTERS

Turkey scrambled a jet fighter today to force down an airliner from Ukraine after a would-be hijacker on board brandishing a detonator ordered it to Sochi where the Winter Olympic opening ceremony was underway, Turkish officials said.

A Turkish F-16 made the plane, from Turkey's Pegasus airline and carrying 110 people, land in Istanbul.

The hijacker was believed to be a Ukrainian man, according to Turkish media. Outlets reported that he was overpowered and security forces were on the plane.

Habib Soluk, deputy Turkish transport ministry, said that the man was holding a detonator as he tried to get to the cockpit and claimed there was a bomb on board.

"We are sure that he didn't enter the cockpit. We know that the aircraft was hijacked before it entered Turkish airspace," Soluk said.

The Pegasus pilot managed to sound the alert and the Turkish F-16 military jet was scrambled.

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