We Now Know 'Why'... But 'How' Is An Altogether Different
Matter
The lone man who
hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight Tuesday was unarmed... and
threatened to blow up the plane unless the pilot diverted to
Italy.
That's the latest word from Italian officials, who confirmed
Wednesday 27-year-old Hakan Ekinci acted alone in his plot to gain
the attention of Pope Benedict XVI. Earlier reports had speculated
a second hijacker was involved, and Ekinci claimed he had
accomplices onboard when he stormed the cockpit shortly after the
flight took off from Tirana, Albania bound for Istanbul.
"While the chief stewardess entered the cockpit to ask if we
needed anything, the terrorist entered by force. I tried to push
him out but he was a big man and I failed to stop him," Turkish
Airlines captain Mursel Gokalp told reporters in Istanbul. "He said
his only aim was to give a message to the Pope and then he would
submit himself to the police."
"He said that if he failed to deliver his message his three
friends at the back of the plane would detonate the plastic bombs
they had," Gokalp added, according to Reuters.
As Aero-News reported, all
113 persons onboard the Boeing 737-400 were unharmed in the
hijacking... which ended when Ekinci surrendered shortly after
the plane landed at Brindisi Airport in southern Italy.
Officials also stated Ekinci, a Christian, wrote to the Pope
several months ago, asking for help to avoid serving in a "Muslim
army."
Now that officials have learned more about "why" Ekinci hijacked
the plane... now comes the ever-important question of "how" the man
was able to pull it off. Here's where a strange story gets even
stranger.
An airport video released to Reuters shows Ekinci going through
repeated security checks at the Tirana airport, where security is
run by a German-US firm. Ekinci eventually removed his belt,
sweater, and the contents of his pockets before he was finally
allowed to board the flight to Istanbul.
Ekinci was flying to
Istanbul after Albanian officials refused his request for asylum in
that country, where he fled to in May following his apparent
desertion from the Turkish army.
When he entered the cockpit, Ekinci noticed the plane's pilot
had entered inflight emergency code 7700 into the transponder --
and told the pilot to switch it to the hijacking code, 7500.
"The pilot said he knew procedures and the meaning of codes and
said he learnt it all on the Internet," Italy's Interior Minister
Giuliano Amato told a Senate hearing on the incident. "I don't know
how many of you would have known how to do that, I certainly
wouldn't have."
Passengers onboard the flight say the pilot announced the
diversion to Brindisi about 20 minutes into the flight, claiming a
technical issue was responsible. No one on the plane suspected a
thing... until police surrounded the plane after it landed.
As he surrendered, Ekinci reportedly apologized to the captain,
shook his hand... and bid passengers onboard the plane "good
night."
Ekinci is now seeking asylum in Italy... where officials are
more concerned with the potential safety implications of the
hijacking, in lieu of Pope Benedict's planned trip to Turkey next
month. For now, that trip is still on... although Amato said the
incident exposed the "fragility" of security.
Given that one lone man was able to hijack a commercial
aircraft, five years after the events of 9/11... that may be a
profound understatement.