Cyprus TV reports that the hijacker has emerged from the aircraft with his hands held up. According to the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, the stand-off is over and the man has been arrested.
Cyprus TV reports that the hijacker has emerged from the aircraft with his hands held up. According to the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, the stand-off is over and the man has been arrested.
It was reported by the Civil Aviation Ministry of Cyprus that the EgyptAir flight MS181 en route from Alexandria to Cairo has been hijacked and has landed in Cyprus and the plane’s pilot was threatened by a passenger with a suicide belt.
The western media has reported that the lone hijacker wants to talk to his separated Cypriot wife, who is now on the way to the airport.
Initial report said that there were 80 passengers on board, although later the Hijacker freed 30-40 passengers at the Larnaca airport of Cyprus. Larnaca Airport has been closed, while ambulances have been sent to the scene.
According to EgyptAir , the release of all the passengers on board the aircraft has been agreed, except for four foreigners and crew members on the plane. There are believed to be between 15 and 20 people still left on the plane.
Omar Al-Gammal, the pilot of the EgyptAir plane has told the authorities that he has been threatened by a passenger with a suicide belt.
Egyptian state media reported that the hijacker, named as Ibrahim Samaha is a dual American-Egyptian citizen. The hijacker who is a professor of veterinary medicine at Alexandria University also has demanded a translator and wants political asylum in Cyprus.
However, the safety reputation of Egypt’s air industry was criticized heavily after a bomb planted by ISIS on a Russian passenger plane on October 31, 2015, killed all 224 people on board. Even western investigation found that Sharm el-Sheikh Airport had many gaps in security, such as lax searches at the entry gate and poor quality of scanning devices.