A would-be hijacker has been thwarted in his attempts to take control of an airliner by passengers. According to reports, passengers on flight TK1754 overpowered a man who was wearing a mask and trying to get into the cockpit carrying what he claimed was a bomb. The Turkish Airlines jet was on its way to Turkey from Norway and the incident occurred half-an-hour before the flight was scheduled to land in Istanbul.

According to Turkish media, the suspect was a citizen of Turkey who came from a Kurdish village situated in Anatolia. There has so far been no reason given for the man’s behaviour. The suspect apparently wanted the aircraft to return to Oslo, but it managed to land in Istanbul as intended.

None of the passengers or crew was harmed. According to Lelya Kilic, a passenger, there were raised voices coming from the rear of the plane. She described how she saw a number of other passengers fighting with a man wearing a mask. She added that the man was also carrying what appeared to be a radio handset.

The suspect was brought down after he approached the cockpit saying that he was carrying a bomb, according to one Turkish news agency. After the fight, the pilot of the plane managed to radio ahead to Istanbul to make sure the police were waiting when the aircraft landed.

According to the police, they entered the plane to find the suspect was being sat on by another passenger. The bomb was apparently a fake.