ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--A Kurdish Airbus with 96 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Istanbul half an hour after it took off from Ataturk airport in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul due to a technical failure in one of its engines. The Zagrosjet A321 Airbus left Istanbul at 5:15 am and was headed to Erbil when it was forced to turn around and return to Istanbul, said the director of the company. "After 10 minutes of flight, its left engine oil light turned on. Therefore we were forced to land it at 5:45 am and the problem was fixed," Maufaq Sherwan, director of the Zagrosjet company, told Rudaw. Sherwani added that the plane was capable of sustaining its flight, "but for the safety of the passengers we landed it. After we were assured that it was ready to fly, we took off again at 11 am.” The Istanbul Ataturk emergency and firefighter were on hand to lend assistance to the Zagrosjet flight. No passengers or crew were injured in the incident. Zagrosjet is the only Kurdish airline flying internationally out of the Kurdistan Region.
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