Turkish Pilots Kidnapped in Lebanon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Armed men kidnapped two Turkish pilots working for Turkish Airlines on Beirut's airport road.
Lebanon's interior minister and Turkey's ambassador to Lebanon confirmed the incident that took place on Friday morning in separate statements.
Turkish Airlines' press office announced that the pilots were Turkish nationals named Murat Agca and Murat Akpinar, Aljazeera reported.
In a statement on the incident, Marwan Charbel, Lebanon's interior minister, said: "A kidnapping operation took place at 3:00 am targeting a bus carrying several members of a Turkish Airlines crew going from the airport to the hotel. Gunmen kidnapped two passengers from the bus, the pilot and co-pilot."
He added that an investigation was underway.
Inan Ozyildiz, Turkey's ambassador to Lebanon, told Turkey's Anatolia News Agency that the pilots completed a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Beirut and were on their way from the airport to their hotel when the abduction happened.
The seven other passengers on the targeted bus were flight attendents, he said.
