SINGAPORE/ISTANBUL: A Turkish Airlines aircraft was flown back to Istanbul without any passengers on board on Thursday on orders from authorities in Singapore after a passenger who had arrived on the same plane on Tuesday tested positive for coronavirus.
The infected passenger was not Turkish and transited through Istanbul en route to Singapore from another location, a Turkish aviation official told Reuters, adding there were 143 passengers aboard the flight, as well as three pilots and 10 crew members.
Singapore’s aviation regulator said that the pilots and crew of flight TK54 that had arrived on Tuesday were on the return flight to Istanbul, where they would be placed in quarantine. The aviation official said the crew tested negative for the virus in Singapore.
“The crew had come into close contact with a passenger on flight TK54 who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in contact with the Turkish Embassy, which has confirmed that the crew will be quarantined upon arrival at Istanbul,” CAAS said.
Singapore’s transport ministry said in a statement on its website that authorities had begun tracing passengers on flight TK54 that may have had contact with the infected person.
Turkish Airlines declined to comment.
Singapore had 112 confirmed cases of coronavirus, which started in China, but a large majority of the patients in the city-state have recovered and been discharged from hospital.
Turkey has had no reported cases of the virus.
Turkish Airlines plane flies home empty after Singapore coronavirus case
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Turkish Airlines plane flies home empty after Singapore coronavirus case
- Infected passenger was not Turkish and transited through Istanbul en route to Singapore from another location
- Turkish Airlines crew tested negative for the virus in Singapore
Israeli forces demolish Palestinian facilities in Jericho
- Israeli authorities have conducted 538 demolitions in the past 12 months, totaling 1,400 structures
- Excluding East Jerusalem, there are about 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank
LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished a house on Thursday in the town of Deir Al-Dik, located west of Jericho in the West Bank, and issued a demolition order for another structure east of the city.
Israeli bulldozers stormed Deir Al-Dik and demolished a house belonging to a resident of Jerusalem, claiming it was built without a permit, according to the Wafa news agency.
Forces also demolished a barracks in the city that belonged to the Abu Jarar factory and issued a demolition order for another structure related to the Sinqrat palm grove, east of Jericho.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that the Israeli authorities conducted 538 demolitions in the past 12 months, totaling 1,400 structures. This included 304 occupied homes, 74 unoccupied homes, 270 economic facilities and 490 agricultural facilities, primarily in Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tubas and Nablus.
Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, there are about 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.
