EgyptAir hijacker demands to see ex-wife, seeks asylum in Cyprus
CAIRO (Egypt) – The man who hijacked an EgyptAir plane flying between Alexandria and Cairo and ordered the pilot to divert to Larnaca in Cyprus has been arrested, according to the Cypriot foreign ministry and the airline.
Its over. The #hijacker arrested. #LarnacaAirport # Egyptair
— Cyprus MFA (@CyprusMFA) March 29, 2016
Earlier, seven more people, thought to be the last of the crew and passengers who had remained with the hijacker on board, were seen leaving the plane.
An Egypt air domestic flight from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked on Tuesday and landed in Cyprus, Egyptian officials said. The pilot of the plane was threatened by a passenger who claims to be strapped with explosives, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said.
There were 21 foreigners on the flight including eight Americans, four Dutch citizens, four Britons and a French citizen, an Egyptian civil aviation ministry statement said.
The Cyprus foreign ministry identified the hijacker as Seif Eldin Mustafa.
There was confusion over his motivation: Egyptian prime minister Sherif Ismail said the man was an Egyptian national who had asked to meet European Union officials or to fly on to another airport.
Cypriot media suggest there is just one hijacker who was motivated by “personal reasons” – his ex-wife is said to live in Cyprus – and may be seeking asylum, although this has not been confirmed.
Officials reported that the woman was on her way to the airport to speak her ex-husband. The Guardian’s Helena Smith, who is at the airport, has arrived at the airport where Cypriot authorities hope “she can talk some sense into her former partner”.
Egyptian state media has named the hijacker as Ibrahim Samaha, stating he was sitting on seat 38K and is aged between 27 and 28 years old. EgyptAir have said that the hijacker in possession of a “suicide vest”.
Negotiations with the hijacker, named Ibrahim Samaha according to state media, resulted in freeing the passengers except for the plane crew and four foreign passengers, according to EgyptAir.
A spokesperson for Egypt’s foreign ministry dismissed any links to terrorism in the incident, calling Samaha ‘an idiot’. ‘He’s not a terrorist, he’s an idiot. Terrorists are crazy but they aren’t stupid. This guy is,’ they said.
Witnesses said the hijacker threw a letter on the apron of the airport in Larnaca, written in Arabic, asking that it be delivered to his ex-wife, who is Cypriot.
In 1988, a Kuwait Airways flight hijacked en route from Bangkok to Kuwait was diverted to Mashad and later to Larnaca, where hijackers killed two Kuwaiti passengers and dumped their bodies on the tarmac.
In February 1978, an Egyptian commando unit stormed a hijacked Cyprus Airways DC-8 Larnaca airport, where 15 passengers were being held hostage. Some 15 Egyptian soldiers were killed and 15 wounded. All the hostages were freed and hijackers arrested.