Commandos storm vessel before dawnSince Friday evening, coastguard vessels with commandos aboard had tracked the "sea bus" in the Sea of Marmara before it ran low on fuel and dropped anchor.Shortly before 5.00 a.m. (0300 GMT) a flurry of activity was evident on the ferry's main deck. Hazy television pictures showed figures moving in the aisle between rows of empty seats. A few people were apparently wearing life jackets.Orders were given for marine commandos to storm the ferry at 5.35 a.m. (0335 GMT) as it lay anchored a few kilometers off shore, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Istanbul, according to Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu.There was no official word on how the commandos boarded the ferry, but news channels spoke with hostages as they left a police station in the town of Silivri where they had given their accounts of the hijacking."The terrorist had told the crew to gather us upstairs, we never saw him. He sent us tea and biscuits," Kadir Altunoglu, a man in his thirties, told Samanyolu news channel"We heard five or six gunshots before dawn. We had opened the rear exit door of the ferry to let the commandos in."Another passenger, Ceyhun Tezer, 28, told the NTV channel: "It lasted no more than 10 minutes after we saw them (the commandos). We heard six gunshots, they told us three in the head and another three in the chest, there were no more gunshots."He said passengers were alarmed the ferry was taking too long for the short run between the towns of Izmit and Karamursel and was off course, but only realised it had been hijacked when they saw news reports on the television in the passenger lounge.NTV also aired security camera footage of a dark-haired man, said to be the hijacker, carrying a sports backpack, walking to the ferry.PKK fails to take credit for attackTransport Minister Binali Yildirim had told reporters in the capital Ankara the hijacker had not made any concrete demands and had only sought fuel, food and drink.Earlier reports said up to five suspected Kurdish militants armed with explosives carried out the hijacking on the high-speed ferry.There was no immediate comment from the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, European Union.
Turkish commandos kill alleged PKK ferry hijacker
Assailant armed with 450 grams of plastic explosives had taken control of ferry carrying 20 people; all passengers rescued after 12 hour siege.
Commandos storm vessel before dawnSince Friday evening, coastguard vessels with commandos aboard had tracked the "sea bus" in the Sea of Marmara before it ran low on fuel and dropped anchor.Shortly before 5.00 a.m. (0300 GMT) a flurry of activity was evident on the ferry's main deck. Hazy television pictures showed figures moving in the aisle between rows of empty seats. A few people were apparently wearing life jackets.Orders were given for marine commandos to storm the ferry at 5.35 a.m. (0335 GMT) as it lay anchored a few kilometers off shore, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Istanbul, according to Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu.There was no official word on how the commandos boarded the ferry, but news channels spoke with hostages as they left a police station in the town of Silivri where they had given their accounts of the hijacking."The terrorist had told the crew to gather us upstairs, we never saw him. He sent us tea and biscuits," Kadir Altunoglu, a man in his thirties, told Samanyolu news channel"We heard five or six gunshots before dawn. We had opened the rear exit door of the ferry to let the commandos in."Another passenger, Ceyhun Tezer, 28, told the NTV channel: "It lasted no more than 10 minutes after we saw them (the commandos). We heard six gunshots, they told us three in the head and another three in the chest, there were no more gunshots."He said passengers were alarmed the ferry was taking too long for the short run between the towns of Izmit and Karamursel and was off course, but only realised it had been hijacked when they saw news reports on the television in the passenger lounge.NTV also aired security camera footage of a dark-haired man, said to be the hijacker, carrying a sports backpack, walking to the ferry.PKK fails to take credit for attackTransport Minister Binali Yildirim had told reporters in the capital Ankara the hijacker had not made any concrete demands and had only sought fuel, food and drink.Earlier reports said up to five suspected Kurdish militants armed with explosives carried out the hijacking on the high-speed ferry.There was no immediate comment from the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, European Union.