Security guards foil hijacking attempt on El Al flight

by Esra Aygin
The Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Security guards on Israel's national airline El Al overpowered a man who tried to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul on Sunday.

None of the 170 passengers on board the Boeing 757 was harmed and the plane landed safely, said Oktay Cakirlar, an official at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.

The hijacker was identified as a 23-year-old Arab with an Israeli passport.

Cakirlar said El Al Flight 581 sent out a hijacking signal as it approached Istanbul but the suspect was overcome.

"No one was injured," Cakirlar said. "The terrorist is in custody at the police station at the airport."

The television reports said two Israeli security guards aboard the plane overpowered the man.

He reportedly first threatened a flight attendant with a knife and tried to approach the cockpit, but he was overpowered by two security guards, one posing as a passenger.

"We heard people saying there was fighting and half a minute later it became clear that from row five or six a man ran amok toward the pilot's cabin, attacked a stewardess and tried to enter the cockpit," said an Israeli passenger on the plane.

"We saw a stewardess running like crazy from the front of the place to the business section... She was terrified," said the passenger, Menachen Binet.