An Egyptian airliner that was hijacked recently was landed in Cyprus on Tuesday and reports claim that all the passengers are safe and unharmed. The hijacked plane was, in fact, asked to touch down and land in Cyprus by the hijacker himself, who was detained soon after.
Officials told the press that the hijacker had been detained soon after he himself surrendered.
The plane had been enroute Cairo, from Alexandria, when it was hijacked, on Tuesday morning. However, after the aircraft landed at Larnaca airport, the hijacker released ‘everyone’ on board, barring three passengers and four crew following negotiations. It is also being stated that on questioning the man, who was identified as Seif Eldin Mustafa, he seemed to have declared to be just another fellow passenger aboard.
Witnesses said that later he threw a letter on the apron of the airport in Larnaca, written in Arabic, asking that it be delivered to his ex-wife. It appears that his behaviour was erratic. The detention came soon after as the man appeared from within the aircraft and then ‘walked across the tarmac and raised his hands to two awaiting counter-terrorism police officers.’ The officials searched him before taking him away.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, in a statement to the press, said that the man was an Egyptian national who had expressed to meet EU authorities, or to fly on to another airport.
Passengers aboard were eight Americans, along with four Britons and Dutch, each, two Belgians, an Italian, a Syrian and a French national.
Source and picture(s): Agencies
Tags: airplane hijack Cairo Cyprus Egyptian plane hijack hijack
