An EgyptAirline Plane MS-181 Hijacked with 62 people on board, that had taken off from Alexandria to Cairo. hijacker forced airline to land in Cyprus. Plane was hijacked around 8 AM and forced to land at Larnaca airport in Cyprus on Tuesday. Initial reports suggest that there is a possibility of a live bomb being on board, but these reports are unconfirmed. The plane was hijacked 30 minutes into its flight, according to officials. Less than an hour later, local TV showed about 40 women and children being allowed to leave the aircraft.
The hijacker is an citizen of Egypt. He has been named as Ibrahim Samaha and was sitting in seat K38. the all passengers have been released other than cabin crew and 4 ‘Foreign’ Passengers. The hijacker, whose ex-wife lives in Cyprus, has demanded Hospital in the country and reportedly wants to deliver a message to her. She is lives in Cyprus and now involved in the negotiations. More reports on the hijacking are indicating that the man wants the letter to be given to his ex-wife.
The flight captain Amr-Al-Gamal reported that one of the passengers claimed to have an explosive belt and forced the aircraft to land in Cyprus. The hijackers contacted the control tower at 8:30 AM and the plane was given permission to land at 8:50 AM, It was not clear how many hijackers were involved. Egypt’s civil aviation authority said the hijacker had threatened to detonate an explosives belt.
Cyprus state broadcaster reports hijacker asking for ‘release of prisoners’ in Egypt: Reuters
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) March 29, 2016