The plane, operated by Atlas-Jet, with 142 people on board was seized early Saturday by two hijackers who demanded to be flown to Tehran. The flight landed in Antalya at 8:05 a.m. local time (9:05 a.m. Moscow time) and was immediately surrounded by police.
According to Turkish media, a number of passengers succeeded in opening a rear door and jumping out onto the tarmac, several injuring themselves in the process.
One of the pilots on board the aircraft said by radio the hijackers were Iranian, and a passenger who escaped reported they were members of al-Qaeda.
The jet was seized shortly after takeoff from Ercan airport on Northern Cyprus, with one of the hijackers claiming to have a bomb and threatening to blow the airplane up.
However, they were reportedly unable to break down the pilot cabin door, and the pilots refused to comply with their demand to be flown to Iran.
The airliner remains on the tarmac and negotiations are ongoing.
