Camel Sacrifice Gives Bosses the Hump

Bosses at Turkey's largest airline took a dim view today of maintenance workers sacrificing a camel at Istanbul airport to celebrate the delivery of a batch of planes.

The country's national carrier, Turkish Airlines, suspended its chief of maintenance after the unusual celebration.

Maintenance staff had banded together to buy the animal and then killed it mark the delivery of 100 aircraft.

Turkish newspapers carried pictures of the camel, two rugs thrown over its hump, before Tuesday's sacrifice. They also showed pictures of the animal chopped into pieces.

The Hurriyet newspaper said 700kg (1,543lb) of camel meat had been distributed among the workers.

Turkish Airlines was accepted last week into the Lufthansa-led Star Alliance.

Many Turkish Muslims slaughter animals - usually sheep or cattle - at Eid al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice, which falls in early January.