Turkish Airline’s (THY) İstanbul-Hakkari domestic flight was delayed for three hours on Monday after passengers reported another passenger talking about a bomb with a friend on the phone.
According to the CNN Türk website, M.Ö. was talking to a friend in Hakkari before the plane took off from İstanbul Atatürk Airport and said, “I have bomb-like news for you.”
His conversation was misunderstood by other passengers, and they reported it to the cabin crew.
As per flight procedures, all passengers were forced to deplane and all baggage was scanned again. Meanwhile, airport police questioned M.Ö.
M.Ö. said he had just passed a government examination for village guard and was informing his friend about it. He said he only told his friend that “I have bomb-like news for you — I passed the village guard exam and am leaving my job.”