Filipino beauty queen among passengers in hijacked plane

The Philippine candidate for the recently concluded Miss Globe International 2006 was one of the 107 passengers aboard a Turkish plane hijacked over Greece air space, ABS-CBN reported Tuesday.

Jamie Liz Castillo, 20, called her parents from Italy where the plane was safely landed to inform them about the incident. Her parents said Castillo was crying during the call.

Castillo, a math major from De La Salle University in Manila, was the Mutya ng Pilipinas titlist for 2003.

Castillo was with her fellow candidates from India, Singapore and Malaysia when the incident happened. Officials declared that the crisis was over but Castillo and other passengers remain stranded in Italy.

Her group was not able to contact the organizers of the pageant.

News agency Reuters reported that two Turks had hijacked the plane in protest at Pope Benedict XVI’s pending visit to Turkey. The plane was flying from the Albanian capital Tirana to Istanbul when the hijackers took control of the aircraft.

The official said the plane, carrying 107 passengers and a crew of six, entered Greek air space and was soon escorted out by the Greek fighter jets.

The Italian air force later said it had intercepted the Turkish flight, which then landed at Brindisi airport in Italy.