Blast on Turkish plane injures three people

AN explosion inside a plane at Istanbul airport injured three people yesterday hours before US President George Bush was due to fly out from the same location, Turkish police said.

The Turkish Airlines plane, on a domestic flight from the port of Izmir, was being cleaned after landing in Istanbul.

A Turkish Airlines spokesman said cleaners boarded the plane at 12.30pm (10.30am Irish time) after passengers had disembarked. “One of the workers picked up a wallet from the ground and there was an explosion.

Meantime, A Delta Airlines flight from Istanbul airport to the US was diverted to Shannon airport yesterday amid fears that there could have been a bomb on board following the explosion at the same airport earlier.

The Boeing 767-300 was carrying 192 passengers and crew when it touched down at Shannon just after 4pm.

The jet was escorted to a remote taxiway at Shannon where the passengers disembarked and were taken to the terminal building by bus.

Shortly before 7pm, passengers were allowed reboard the aircraft which finally left Shannon at 7.30pm, three hours late.