The hijacker, identified as Seif El
Din Mustafa, is seen wearing his 'suicide belt', as an unknown man
standing next to him on the plane pulls a silly face while taking a
selfie
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earlier today ...
EgyptAir jet hijacked by man in bomb vest from Alexandria to Cairo
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Held handful of passengers and crew hostage on tarmac in Cyprus
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earlier today ...
EgyptAir jet hijacked by man in bomb vest from Alexandria to Cairo
Hijacker Seif El Din Mustafa demanded to see Cypriot ex-wife
Continue to story and photos ...
Held handful of passengers and crew hostage on tarmac in Cyprus
Arrested after a five-hour negotiations which saw him leave letter for ex
Cypriot Foreign Ministry said hijacker appeared to be 'mentally unstable'
A man thought to be Seif Eldin Mustafa
leaves the hijacked Egyptair Airbus A320 at Larnaca Airport, after
which he raised his hands in the air and 'threw some items on the
ground'
This
is the moment when one of the passengers believed to be held hostage on
the EgyptAir plane forced to land in Cyprus, takes a grinning selfie
with the hijacker.
The
hijacker, identified as Seif Eldin Mustafa, is seen wearing his
'suicide belt', as an unknown man standing next to him on the plane
while taking a picture.
Mustafa
hijacked the domestic EgyptAir jet after taking off from Alexandria and
forcing it to re-route to Cyprus' Larnaca airport, where he has taken
several passengers and crew hostage and demanded to see his Cypriot
ex-wife.
The
hostage situation on the tarmac came to a dramatic end just before 1pm
as one of the pilots was seen struggling with someone inside cockpit
before jumping out of a window, moments before authorities arrested
Mustafa.
This image shows
the moment Seif Eldin Mustafa hands over the letter intended for his
ex-wife, as a female airport official stands with her head in her hands
Mustafa
disembarked the plane at around 14.40 local time with his hands up and
threw some items on the ground, which were picked up by police and are
being examined.
EgyptAir
confirmed that all the hostages have been released, saying: ' Official
sources at EgyptAir declared the release of all the hostages and the
arrest of the hijacker.'
Alexandros
Zenon, Secretary of the Cypriot Foreign Ministry, did not immediately
have more details on the arrest, but added that the hijacker appeared to
be 'mentally unstable'.
In the wake of his arrest, Cypriot authorities were able to determine that Mustafa's suicide belt had been a fake.
Earlier,
seven more people - presumed to be the last of the crew and 'foreign'
passengers who had remained with the hijacker onboard - were seen
leaving the plane.
His
arrest followed a comment by an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official, who
said: 'He's not a terrorist, he's an idiot. Terrorists are crazy but
they aren't stupid. This guy is.'
This image which
has been shared widely on social media reportedly shows Seif Eldin
Mustafa wearing his 'suicide belt' on the hijacked EgyptAir plane
Unidentified people leave the hijacked Egyptair Airbus A320, with Mustafa believed to be second from right
A man, believed to be a member of the
crew, leaves the hijacked aircraft of Egyptair from the pilot's window
shortly before the hijacker was arrested
Cyprus police have evacuated a stretch
of beach near the tarmac, as at least four more people were allowed to
leave the plane shortly after midday, with one man seen climbing out of
the cockpit
A
picture from the tarmac shows the moment the attacker hands over a
four-page letter intended for his ex-wife, as a female airport official
stands with her head in her hands.
While
initially not making any demands beyond his ex-wife and asylum, the
hijacker reportedly asked for the release of female prisoners in Egypt,
the Cyprus state broadcaster reported.
Cyprus
President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters the incident appeared to be
motivated by personal reasons and 'is not terrorism-related'
Asked
about reports that the hijacker had demanded to see a Cypriot woman,
Anastasiades laughed and said: 'Always there is a woman.'
Police
spokeswoman Nicoletta Tirimou said the letter handed to officials is
written in Arabic, and is being translated, adding that the man's
ex-lover had arrived at the airport and that the couple had children.
Egypt's
civil aviation minister Sharif Fathi, said at a press conference that
there has been confusion over the identity of the hijacker, after
government officials gave the man's name as Ibrahim Samaha.
However,
this was later retracted, with the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs
naming him as Seif Eldin Mustafa - and the Egyptian government issuing
an apology.
The hijacker,
identified as Seif Eldin Mustafa has asked negotiators at Larnaca
airport for political asylum - and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife
Released: The
Egyptian Foreign Ministry has rubbished claims that Seif Eldin Mustafa
is a terrorist, saying: 'Terrorists are crazy but they aren't stupid.
This guy is'
An official boards a hijacked Egyptair A320 Airbus at Larnaca Airport in, Cyprus, to negotiate with the hijacker
Passengers wait for a bus to Paphos at the Larnaca airport after being allowed to leave the airplane
EgyptAir
MS181, carrying 62 people, including eight Brits and ten Americans, was
en-route from Alexandria to Cairo when it was hijacked, forcing it to
land on Cyprus.
Negotiations
with the hijacker during the morningt resulted in the release of a
majority of the hostages, except for the crew and four foreigners,
EgyptAir said.
The hijacking of the plane, carrying 55 passengers and a crew of seven, was confirmed by EgyptAir on Twitter at 7.40am GMT.
Flight
MS181 took off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria en
route to Cairo with at least 55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and
a seven-member crew.
An
official with flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 said the plane
showed no immediate signs of distress. The flight between Alexandria and
Cairo normally takes about 30 minutes.
Hijacked: The
EgyptAir was enroute to Cairo, carrying 62 people - including eight
Brits and ten Americans - when it was hijacked by a man in an explosive
vest
Passengers are reunited with their
luggage on the tarmac after being allowed off the plane, where the crew
and four hostages are reportedly still being held
Egyptian media reports that he ordered the pilot to fly to Turkey but was told they did not have enough fuel
The
plane diverted to Cyprus after the captain, Omar Jamal, was alerted to
the presence of a passenger who was wearing what appeared to be an
explosive belt.
A
statement from the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry statement said the
foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch,
two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian.
Three other foreigners could not be identified.
The plane landed at Larnaca airport at around 8.50am (6.50am GMT), police in Cyprus said.
Cypriot
government officials said that after the plane landed, the hijackers
demanded that police vehicles move away from the aircraft.
Initial
claims that hijacker had requested to go to Turkey has since been
denied by airport officials who say no other destinations had been
mentioned.
The hijacker, believed to be a
27-year-old Egyptian national, continues to hold the crew and four
passengers of unknown nationalities hostage on the tarmac
Emergency landing: The Egypt Air jet was en-route from Alexandria to Cairo when it was reportedly hijacked
After leaving Alexandria the plane was diverted from it's route to Cairo, and flown to Cyprus
Ibrahim
Abdel Tawab Samaha was identified as the hijacker by Egyptian
government spokesman Hossam al-Queish earlier on Tuesday - a statement
which has now been retracted.
The
wife of Samaha, a university professor from Alexandria, called Egyptian
media to rubbish the claims that her husband was involved.
The
woman, who identified herself as Nahla, said her husband, with the same
name, is not the hijacker and that he was on his way to Cairo en route
to the United States to attend a conference.
She
told the private TV network ONTV that her husband had never been to
Cyprus and that a photo shown international news purporting to show the
hijacker is not her husband.
Questions have been raised as to how the hijacker was able to embark on the plane wearing the suicide vest.
Egyptian
authorities promised to tighten airport security in the wake of the
downing of a Russian Metrojet airplane in October last year, where all
224 passengers died.
Investigations
later found that explosives had been smuggled onto the Airbus A321-231,
most likely at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, which then
crashed minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister David Cameron said British diplomats are on the ground and in touch with Cypriot authorities.
'The
national security adviser is chairing a meeting of senior officials
from across Whitehall to review the situation and to get the latest on
what we know.
'There
is obviously speculation about the numbers [but] at this stage we are
working to establish what the facts actually are and this is one of the
things they will be discussing at this meeting of officials.'
'It's important that we establish the facts rather than speculate about numbers.'
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