Note sparks bomb scare before flight to Turkish Cyprus from Istanbul
ISTANBUL
As the KK1010 Atlasglobal flight was completing its final preparations for takeoff from Atatürk Airport to Ercan Airport at 4.45 p.m., the unidentified passenger handed a flight attendant a note reading: “I’m calling on the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I’m not responsible for what will happen from now on.”
Police teams were immediately called to the scene and the passenger was detained.
Other passengers on board were taken off the flight while officials conducted a bomb search inside the aircraft.
The flight was delayed for four hours due to the bomb scare and the passengers were boarded onto another Nicosia-bound plane at 8.40 p.m.
The Eastern Mediterranean Island was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after Turkey initiated a military intervention following a Greece-inspired 1974 coup d’état.