Israel Returns Hijacked Plane, Passengers

Israel let a hijacked Iranian plane fly back to Tehran on Wednesday, rejecting demands to use it as a bargaining chip to free an Israeli airman believed held by Iran.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Israel decided “not to support any piracy in the air.” Israel’s Cabinet said the plane was sent back “despite the hostility of the Iranian regime toward Israel.”

The Kish Air Boeing 707 left the Ovda air base in southern Israel, escorted by two Israeli F-16 jets. It had 174 passengers and crew aboard, including five passengers who reportedly had asked for asylum.

It wasn’t clear why Israel would send home passengers if they asked for asylum.

Iran’s Vice President Hassan Habibi and Transportation Minister Akbar Torkan met the passengers at the steps of the plane, the radio report said.

Sources in Tehran told The Associated Press that officials at the airport sent home the waiting relatives, and told them the passengers would be returned to their homes in a few hours.

The plane was hijacked Tuesday by a flight attendant en route from Tehran to the Persian Gulf resort island of Kish. The hijacker surrendered less than an hour after it landed at Ovda, 18 miles north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat.