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EgyptAir Flight Hijacked and Diverted to Cyprus EgyptAir Flight Hijacked and Diverted to Cyprus
(about 1 hour later)
CAIRO — Most of the passengers on an EgyptAir plane that was hijacked and forced to land at Larnaca airport in Cyprus were released on Tuesday, the airline and Egyptian officials said, after the jet was diverted during its flight to Cairo from Alexandria. CAIRO — A man claiming to be wearing an explosive vest hijacked an EgyptAir plane en route to Cairo from Alexandria on Tuesday morning and forced it to land in Larnaca, on the southern coast of Cyprus.
Although the hijacker claimed to be wearing a suicide belt and threatened to detonate it, officials in Egypt and Cyprus said they believed he may have been motivated by personal factors rather than by terrorism. Most of the 56 passengers were released, but a tense standoff ensued for four hours, as the plane stayed on the tarmac. Three passengers, and five crew members — including the pilot and co-pilot — were still on board, along with the hijacker, EgyptAir said in a Facebook post at 12:15 p.m.
Egyptian state news media identified the hijacker as an employee of the University of Alexandria. Although the university’s website lists a professor of veterinary medicine with the name published in the reports, BBC Arabic reported that the professor said he was merely a passenger on the flight and was not the hijacker. Although the hijacker said he was wearing a suicide belt and threatened to detonate it, officials in Egypt and Cyprus said they could not confirm his assertions, and that they believed he may have been motivated by personal factors. The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, said the hijacking was “not something that has to do with terrorism.”
The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, said that the hijacking was “not something that has to do with terrorism.” While the authorities were scrambling to identify the hijacker and to establish what had happened, the episode raised new concerns about airport security in Egypt and dealt another blow to the country’s beleaguered tourism industry — once a mainstay of its economy — which plummeted after a bomb downed a Russian airliner shortly after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board.
A Cypriot official told The Associated Press that the hijacker had given negotiators the name of a woman on the island whom he wanted to contact, and an Egyptian security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the developing situation, said that the hijacker’s former wife is from Cyprus. News about the situation broke around 8 a.m. on Tuesday when the Egyptian authorities reported the hijacking of an Airbus A320. EgyptAir identified the flight as MS181 and said it had been carrying 56 passengers, seven crew members and one EgyptAir security officer. (The airline had said earlier that there had been 81 people on the plane.)
In a statement on its Facebook page, EgyptAir identified the flight as MS181 and said it had been carrying 56 passengers, 7 crew members and one EgyptAir security officer. The airline had said earlier that there had been 81 people on the plane. There was confusion surrounding the identity of the hijacker. Egyptian state news media identified him as a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Alexandria. But a man identifying himself as the professor spoke to BBC Arabic, which reported that he had said he was merely a passenger on the flight, was not the hijacker.
Speaking at a news conference in Cairo, the Egyptian civil aviation minister, Sharif Fathi, said four crew members and three passengers were still on board, along with the hijacker.
Hosni Hassan, a senior official at Borg el-Arab Airport in Alexandria, said by telephone that a majority of the passengers were Egyptian but that the passengers also included citizens from seven other countries, including Belgium, Greece, Italy and the United States.Hosni Hassan, a senior official at Borg el-Arab Airport in Alexandria, said by telephone that a majority of the passengers were Egyptian but that the passengers also included citizens from seven other countries, including Belgium, Greece, Italy and the United States.
Video from the airport showed passengers walking down the stairs from the plane, an Airbus A320, and walking a short distance across the tarmac at Larnaca International Airport before boarding a bus.Video from the airport showed passengers walking down the stairs from the plane, an Airbus A320, and walking a short distance across the tarmac at Larnaca International Airport before boarding a bus.
Aviation security in Egypt has been under sharp scrutiny since a Russian airliner crashed shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Oct. 31, killing all 224 on board.
A local affiliate of the Islamic State said it had brought down that plane with a bomb. Russia and Egypt have attributed the crash to terrorism, although an Egyptian-led investigation has yet to publish its findings.