PRO-CHECHEN HIJACKERS FREE HOSTAGES UNHURT.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Pro-Chechen gunmen who hijacked a Turkish Cypriot airliner released all 109 hostages Persons taken by an individual or organized group in order to force a state, government unit, or community to meet certain conditions: payment of ransom, release of prisoners, or some other act. early today, bringing the 5-1/2-hour drama to a peaceful close. Munich Airport Munich International Airport (IATA: MUC, ICAO: EDDM), officially named Franz Josef Strauss International Airport (German: Flughafen München Franz Josef Strauß) is located 28 km (17 mi) spokesman Hans-Joachim Bues said the 101 passengers and eight crew members were safe. Police said they had arrested one hijacker, but it was not immediately clear what had happened to the three other hijackers reported on the plane. Freed hostages told police their captors had been armed with at least one automatic weapon and a bomb. A Bulgarian security official and the Turkish ambassador to Sofia, Bulgaria, said the hijackers were supporters of rebels fighting for Chechen independence from Russia. The hijackers began releasing hostages early today after demanding to speak to a human rights lawyer and to the press. Neither demand apparently was met. The Boeing 727, traveling from northern Cyprus from Istanbul, landed at Munich Airport at 3:30 p.m. Friday, some 5-1/2 hours after hijackers took control of it shortly after takeoff. It landed first in Sofia, Bulgaria, but the hijackers ordered the pilot to refuel re·fu·el v. re·fu·eled also re·fu·elled, re·fu·el·ing also re·fu·el·ling, re·fu·els also re·fu·els v.tr. To supply again with fuel. v.intr. and fly to Germany. Before the surrender, the hijackers had freed eight hostages. First, they released two men, three women and one child, and about an hour later, the pilot and a flight attendant. Police said they would hold a news conference later today to discuss the motive and the arrested hijacker's nationality nationality, in political theory, the quality of belonging to a nation, in the sense of a group united by various strong ties. Among the usual ties are membership in the same general community, common customs, culture, tradition, history, and language. . They also expected to have information on the condition of the released hostages. Negotiations were carried out by telephone through a Turkish interpreter A high-level programming language translator that translates and runs the program at the same time. It translates one program statement into machine language, executes it, and then proceeds to the next statement. . About 200 police were on alert at the airport during negotiations, out of the hijackers' view. The Turkish news agency Anatolia reported that the Turkish-Cypriot transportation minister said the hijackers were Azerbaijanis, and gave their names as: Burliant Akarova, Iliana Verlikova, Nailia Rustemova and Alekram Alekperov. Earlier reports had said the hijackers were Russian and Chechen. The deputy head of Bulgaria's national security service, Vladimir Markov, said the hijackers were Chechens armed with pistols The following is a list of pistols, firearms that are normally meant for wielding one-handed and for self-defence, and that differ from revolvers and other singled handed weapons through their semi-automatic action. . |
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