Bomb warning forces evacuation of 143 on Turkish domestic flight

A note warning of explosives on board forced the evacuation of 143 people from a domestic Turkish flight on Sunday evening, Şanlıurfa governor Hasan Işıldak said, according to Azerbaijani outlet APA.

AJet flight 4180, travelling from Ankara to Şanlıurfa, took off at 7pm local time and had been in the air for just over an hour when it landed safely at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport at 8.05pm, APA reported. The 136 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated safely once the plane was on the ground, the governor said. AJet is the low-cost subsidiary of Turkish Airlines and operates domestic routes across the country, including the Ankara-Şanlıurfa service affected by Sunday's evacuation.

Security forces searched the aircraft after the evacuation to determine whether an explosive device was actually on board, APA and Report.az reported. All necessary safety measures had been taken to ensure the evacuation went smoothly, the governor said, and the investigation was continuing into the circumstances in which the note was found and who might have left it.

Greek broadcaster OmegaLive, citing the governor's office, carried the same figures for passengers and crew and said the search of the aircraft was still under way after the evacuation. Other Greek media reported that the note found on board had specifically warned of explosives, without giving further detail on its wording or where on the aircraft it was discovered. None of the available reports said how long the search took, whether anything was found, or when the route resumed its normal schedule.