A Pegasus Airlines flight, designated as PC690, experienced an unusual incident late Saturday night. The flight, operated by the Turkish low-cost carrier, departed from Istanbul around 10 pm, heading to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This routine three-and-a-half-hour journey took an unexpected turn shortly after takeoff.
Cries for help, shouting “Help Me,” were reportedly heard emanating from the front cargo hold of the aircraft, an Airbus A321neo, registered as TC-RDG. The pilots, concerned that a baggage handler might be trapped in the potentially dangerous environment of the unheated and low-oxygen cargo hold, made an immediate decision to divert the flight. The aircraft was redirected to Antalya International Airport on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast.
“KİMSE BULUNMADI”
Kargo bölümünde yapılan kontroller sona erdi. Kimse bulunmadı.
Ne olmuştu?
Pegasus’un #PC690 İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen – Riyad seferini yapan TC-RDG tescilli Airbus 321neo tipi uçağın seyri esnasında, iddialara göre ön kargo kısmından “yardım edin” şeklinde… pic.twitter.com/SXyDOLFwoR
— HavaSosyalMedya® (@HavaSosyalMedya) January 27, 2024
“Help Me”
Pegasus Airlines #PC690 Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen – Riyadh flight, an Airbus 321neo type aircraft with TC-RDG registration | Was allegedly heard shouting "help me" from the front cargo area
The pilots made an emergency decision to land in Antalya. We will continue to… pic.twitter.com/VKrfgbAFAW
— HavaSosyalMedya® (@HavaSosyalMedya) January 27, 2024
Video on Board from @StokeyyG2 pic.twitter.com/7csxBsLtq1
— Flight Emergency (@FlightEmergency) January 27, 2024
Upon landing in Antalya, groundworkers conducted a thorough inspection of the aircraft’s cargo hold. Despite the alarming reports, they found no evidence of anyone trapped inside. After ensuring the safety and integrity of the aircraft, the flight was cleared to resume its journey to the Saudi capital. The origin of the cries for help remains unknown, adding a layer of mystery to the incident.
In 2018, a drunk American Airlines baggage handler actually did fall asleep in the cargo hold of a Boeing 737 and flew from Kansas City to Chicago. The year before, a United Express baggage handler flew cargo from Charlotte to Washington Dulles.
In the case of the Pegasus flight PC690, after the necessary checks and removal of all luggage for inspection, the flight continued safely. No further details about the source of the cries for help or the nature of the incident have been released as of now.
(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
Widely reported in Turkish media that it was a Bluetooth speaker of some kind in someone’s luggage.
I suppose someone could carefully rig up some electronics so that they would pass inspection and automatically play a message when a certain low pressure level is reached, turning off when the airplane gets lower while landing and the pressure level goes up.
Ventriloquist with a warped sense of humor!
Bluetooth speaker purposely left on in luggage and controlled by a phone in the cabin? Simple enough that anyone could do it especially if you could move about the cabin to connect.
Sick individual or dry run for a nefarious act?
I don’t know how much room there is in an Airbus wheel well but I quite sure others have tried to stowaway there. If the stowaway fell out upon gear extension, this is another unsolved mystery.
Cries for help on a flight to Riyadh? Who knew, thought the cries stopped in the Saudi Embassy.
I’m guessing someone was in the landing gear compartment. Maybe if someone turns up missing, we will know for sure.