The Interfax news agency cited the Ukrainian Security Service, the country's main security agency, as saying the passenger who tried to hijack the plane was in a state of severe alcohol intoxication. Turkey scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to accompany the Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane as it landed at Sabiha Gokcen airport at 6.05 p.m. (1605 GMT), after a flight from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov with 110 passengers on board. The plane from Kharkiv, Ukraine, landed safely at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, but 110 passengers are still on board and authorities are trying to convince the alleged hijacker to give himself up, Habib Soluk, the country's Transport Ministry undersecretary, told NTV television. Istanbul's governor tweeted around 10 p.m. that "the air pirate has been neutralized" and all other passengers "disembarked from the plane without any problems." The suspect, a 45-year-old man, had a small bag containing electronic goods but no bomb, Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters after the operation to capture him. "None of the passengers were harmed and a successful operation was carried out," Mutlu said. Mutlu said that the suspect -- who never made it into the cockpit and at one point apparently thought the aircraft was destined for Sochi -- "didn't seem to have consumed alcohol, (but) he may have used some other substances." ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish security forces on Friday seized a Ukrainian man who officials said made a bomb threat and tried to hijack a passenger plane, demanding to go to the Winter Olympics venue of Sochi just as the opening ceremony was taking place. While it was in air, "one of the passengers said that there was a bomb on board and asked the plane to not land in Sabiha Gokcen but rather to land in Sochi," Transportation Ministry official Habip Soluk said on CNNTurk. Soluk said the man rose from his seat, shouted that there was bomb on board and tried to enter the locked cockpit. A photograph displayed by the broadcaster NTV showed a man wearing a red, white and blue sports top, believed to be the suspect, standing up from his seat near the front of the plane as a steward looked on. Mutlu, Istanbul's governor, offered a different take on how the alleged hijacker was detained.
– As the opening ceremony of the Olympics was unfolding this morning, a passenger aboard a Turkish plane tried to divert it to Sochi, reports CNN. The man, identified only as Ukrainian, announced that a bomb was on board and ordered that the plane fly to Russia, authorities say. He reportedly tried unsuccessfully to get into the cockpit, and the pilot brought the plane down safely in Istanbul. It may not be a serious security threat, however. The AP quotes the Interfax news agency as saying the passenger was "in a state of severe alcohol intoxication," and Reuters says the crew was able to calm him down. Accounts differ, but most now say the man is in custody.