Pinay beauty queen on hijacked plane

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed yesterday that the Philippine candidate to the Ms. Globe International pageant was among the passengers of the hijacked plane in Turkey.

In its report to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara said Jaime Liv Castillo, 23, was one of the passengers on board the plane that was hijacked over Greek airspace. The hijacking, which forced the plane to land in southern Italy, ended Tuesday night.

In a live phone interview with Mel Tiangco on "24 Oras" over GMA-7, Castillo said they were held inside the plane for three to four hours by a lone hijacker.

"Nakakatakot (It was scary)," Castillo said of the experience. "At that time, hindi ko naiintindihan ang nangyayari kaya natatakot ako (I didn’t understand what was happening so I was scared)."

Aside from Castillo, three other beauty contestants from Singapore, Malaysia and India, and organizers of the Globe International 2006 pageant in Tirana, Albania were also on board the hijacked plane.

"The four of us were together all the time. Gusto ko po sana (I would have liked) to be strong for the three others because they were already breaking down," Castillo said, adding that they were calmed down by the male passengers.

An ABS-CBN news report said that she was able to call her parents from Italy where the plane landed.

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

Consul General Alfonso Ver of the Philippine Embassy in Ankara said Turkey’s airline has sent a special plane to fetch the hijacked passengers who arrived in Istanbul at 8:40 a.m. (Turkey time).

Honorary Consul Rassim Zaimonglu was directed to proceed to the airport to extend consular assistance to Castillo.

Castillo, however, said in the television interview that her flight back to Manila was still being arranged by Turkey’s airline as of press time yesterday.

Reports said that a Turkish man seeking political asylum hijacked the jetliner carrying 113 people. The hijacker, identified as Hakan Ekinci, 28, was an army deserter. He surrendered and the passengers were released unharmed. — With Llora Mariano