Turkish plane returns after unclaimed mobile found

An Istanbul-bound flight of Turkish Airlines carrying 332 passengers on board was called back from the runway here this morning after an “unclaimed” mobile phone was found on a seat of the Boeing 777 plane, delaying the take off by over four hours.

The Boeing 777-300ER plane, which was scheduled to take off for Istanbul at 0650 hours, left for its destination at around 1130 hours, sources said. “Turkish Airlines’ Bombay-Istanbul flight (TK721, Boeing 777-300ER Aircraft, carrying 332 passengers) has returned to parking area in Bombay after push-back due to an unidentified cell phone found onboard,” Turkish Airlines senior vice president for media relations Ali Genc said in a statement. He said the plane continued its flight to Istanbul after necessary security checks were carried out.

The aircraft was brought back to the bay after a mobile phone was found on one of the seats and all the passengers were deplaned for a thorough frisking.

“Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was called back from the runway at Mumbai airport after a suspicious object was found in the aircraft,” a Mumbai Airport spokesperson had said earlier.