ISTANBUL -- Hijackers of a ferry threw their weapons into the freezing waters of the Black Sea and surrendered peacefully to Turkish authorities, ending a four-day ordeal for more than 200 hostages, Turkish officials said Friday.
Six hours after they anchored the Avrasya-Eurasia ferry at the mouth of the Bosporus straits, the pro-Chechen hijackers were picked up by a coast guard boat, Istanbul Governor Ridvan Yenisen said.
There were conflicting accounts on the number of hijackers. Initial reports indicated there were eight, but Yenisen said four were arrested. However, a correspondent for the private ATV channel said he met 10 hijackers, six of them armed, while he was aboard the ferry for a day.
"There was no bargaining," said Prime Minister Tansu Ciller. "We told them there was no way they could get away with this kind of thing," she told CNN.
There were no reports of injuries in the operation and the 242 hostages, most of them Russians, remained on the vessel.
"We have reached our goal. We are ending this action," an unidentified gunman told ATV shortly before the hostage drama ended. "We will surrender to the Turkish authorities."
After negotiations with Turkish authorities, the hijackers threw rifles and explosives into the sea, the Channel D television network reported.
The hijackers were taken first to a military base on the beach and then to an unspecified location, Turkish television said.
The hostage-takers will be "subject to due process of law," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel. "There will be no immunity from legal process, of course," he told CNN.
Hostages interviewed by phone during the hijacking the world's busiest commercial shipping channels.
Turkey closed the straits to shipping traffic Friday when the ferry arrived, but the channel was expected to reopen soon. Before they gave themselves up, the hijackers had sounded alternately hard-line and conciliatory in their talks with the Turks, who refused to let the gunmen enter the straits.
While other recent hostage-takings by Chechen separatists have concluded in violence, the seizure of the ferry did not result in any deaths, officials said.
One of the hostages, a policeman, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder when the ferry was commandeered on Tuesday, a television station reported.
Earlier in the day, the hijackers released 13 hostages, including the policeman.
Of the 242 captives, 125 were Russians and Ukrainians, according to Yenisen, the Istanbul governor.
Many of the Russian passengers were believed to be "suitcase" traders who came to Turkey to purchase goods for sale back in Russia. The ferry was scheduled to head for the Russian city of Sochi, across the Black Sea, before it was hijacked.
The freed hostages remained aboard the ferry, which was to be refueled and then retrace its path, officials said.
It was expected to make its first stop in Eregli, about 200 kilometers east of Istanbul.
Turkish officials earlier had said there were eight gunmen aboard the ferry, but Yenisen said there were only seven.
Most of the gunmen were believed to be Turks of Caucasian origin and one or two were thought to be from the Caucasus.
Tokcan, a Turkish citizen with ethnic ties to the Caucasus, fought previously with the Chechens seeking independence from Russia, Turkish newspapers reported.
In Moslem Turkey, many residents sympathize with the drive for independence in Chechnya, a largely Moslem republic in Russia's Caucasus Mountains.
In Turkey, there are about 8 million people of Caucasian origin and a Chechen community of about 25,000.
About 30,000 people have died in fighting between Russian troops and Chechen rebels in Chechnya since December 1994.
Six hours after they anchored the Avrasya-Eurasia ferry at the mouth of the Bosporus straits, the pro-Chechen hijackers were picked up by a coast guard boat, Istanbul Governor Ridvan Yenisen said.
There were conflicting accounts on the number of hijackers. Initial reports indicated there were eight, but Yenisen said four were arrested. However, a correspondent for the private ATV channel said he met 10 hijackers, six of them armed, while he was aboard the ferry for a day.
"There was no bargaining," said Prime Minister Tansu Ciller. "We told them there was no way they could get away with this kind of thing," she told CNN.
There were no reports of injuries in the operation and the 242 hostages, most of them Russians, remained on the vessel.
"We have reached our goal. We are ending this action," an unidentified gunman told ATV shortly before the hostage drama ended. "We will surrender to the Turkish authorities."
After negotiations with Turkish authorities, the hijackers threw rifles and explosives into the sea, the Channel D television network reported.
The hijackers were taken first to a military base on the beach and then to an unspecified location, Turkish television said.
The hostage-takers will be "subject to due process of law," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel. "There will be no immunity from legal process, of course," he told CNN.
Hostages interviewed by phone during the hijacking the world's busiest commercial shipping channels.
Turkey closed the straits to shipping traffic Friday when the ferry arrived, but the channel was expected to reopen soon. Before they gave themselves up, the hijackers had sounded alternately hard-line and conciliatory in their talks with the Turks, who refused to let the gunmen enter the straits.
While other recent hostage-takings by Chechen separatists have concluded in violence, the seizure of the ferry did not result in any deaths, officials said.
One of the hostages, a policeman, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder when the ferry was commandeered on Tuesday, a television station reported.
Earlier in the day, the hijackers released 13 hostages, including the policeman.
Of the 242 captives, 125 were Russians and Ukrainians, according to Yenisen, the Istanbul governor.
Many of the Russian passengers were believed to be "suitcase" traders who came to Turkey to purchase goods for sale back in Russia. The ferry was scheduled to head for the Russian city of Sochi, across the Black Sea, before it was hijacked.
The freed hostages remained aboard the ferry, which was to be refueled and then retrace its path, officials said.
It was expected to make its first stop in Eregli, about 200 kilometers east of Istanbul.
Turkish officials earlier had said there were eight gunmen aboard the ferry, but Yenisen said there were only seven.
Most of the gunmen were believed to be Turks of Caucasian origin and one or two were thought to be from the Caucasus.
Tokcan, a Turkish citizen with ethnic ties to the Caucasus, fought previously with the Chechens seeking independence from Russia, Turkish newspapers reported.
In Moslem Turkey, many residents sympathize with the drive for independence in Chechnya, a largely Moslem republic in Russia's Caucasus Mountains.
In Turkey, there are about 8 million people of Caucasian origin and a Chechen community of about 25,000.
About 30,000 people have died in fighting between Russian troops and Chechen rebels in Chechnya since December 1994.