Turkish air force escorts Polish airliner due to erroneous hijacking report

A passenger plane of the Polish airline LOT safely landed in Bulgaria after an incident that caused alarm due to a possible hijacking, the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure reported.

The plane, operating a flight from Warsaw to Tel Aviv, transmitted the international emergency code 7500, indicating a hijacking of the aircraft, while in Bulgarian airspace. After that, upon entering Turkish airspace, Turkish authorities activated international aviation security procedures and scrambled two F-16 fighter jets, which escorted the airliner throughout its flight over the country's territory.

Although the crew reported that nothing extraordinary was happening on board, Turkish authorities continued to closely monitor the developing situation.

After coordination with Bulgarian authorities, the plane was allowed to reenter Turkish airspace in order to then receive permission to land at Burgas Airport (Bulgaria). The F-16 fighters escorted the aircraft until it exited Turkish airspace.

In response to the alarm, the air forces of Bulgaria and Israel also scrambled fighter jets. Israel sent two planes after the airliner briefly lost contact over the Mediterranean Sea.

The Polish airline LOT in its initial statement reported that the cause of the incident was a pilot error, in which the wrong emergency code was transmitted by mistake. There was no actual hijacking of the plane.

The airline also clarified that the flight was operated by the Bulgarian airline Electra Airways, and after the incident the route was changed due to crew duty time limitations.

Turkish authorities stated that they continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with all interested parties.

Code 7500 is the international signal used to report a hijacking or other unlawful interference, so its transmission triggered a coordinated response from several countries at once.

Source: Yeni Şafak