Istanbul airport blast kills 1, damages planes

A female cleaner was killed and another wounded early yesterday after an explosion near a plane at Istanbul’s second international airport, with Turkey on high alert for possible attacks. The authorities said it was too early confirm if the airport had been targeted in an attack, but the transport minister said there had been no security lapses.

Five planes suffered slight damage as a result of fragments from the explosion, the minister said. Airport cleaner Zehra Yamac, 30, died of head wounds hours after the blast just after 2:00 am (midnight GMT) on the tarmac at Sabiha Gokcen airport on the Asian side of Turkey’s largest city, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Turkey’s private carrier Pegasus Airlines said in a statement the explosion occurred next to one of its planes while the two cleaners were nearby.

“There were no passengers either on the plane or on the stairway. Sabiha Gokcen airport is continuing its normal operations,” Pegasus said. The wounded victim, also a cleaner, was hurt in the leg. Yamac was hospitalized but died of her wounds despite the efforts of medical staff, Anatolia said. Police stepped up security at airport entrances after the blast, searching vehicles while a police helicopter circled overhead, Anatolia said. Security was also stepped up at Istanbul’s largest airport, Ataturk, on the European side of the city, with police checking vehicles entering the complex, Turkish television said.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said five planes were damaged and were now being repaired in the airport’s hanger. But he declined to give details on the possible cause. “At this moment it’s too early to give a verdict but I want to emphasize there is no weakness concerning security,” Yildirim told Anatolia.

Neither President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu referred to the incident in speeches on Wednesday. The airport said on its official Twitter account that “flights from our terminals are continuing according to schedule.” Sabiha Gokcen airport, named after Turkey’s first female fighter pilot, is the second international airport in Istanbul after much larger Ataturk airport.

Sabiha Gokcen hosts flights both to domestic and numerous international destinations often with budget airlines but also national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.

In 2015, up to November, it hosted over 17 million domestic passengers and almost nine million international passengers, according to company figures. It is now fully owned by Malaysian Airports Holding which completed the acquisition of the remaining shares in the airport this year. “We are working very closely with the Turkish government and our counterparts to facilitate the investigation, and we await their official report on it,” Dato’ Azmi Murad, the executive director of Sabiha Gokcen said in a statement. “The Turkish government has heightened security within the vicinity of the airport, which includes helicopter surveillance,” he added. —AFP