An official boards a hijacked Egyptair A320
Airbus at Larnaca Airport in Larnaca, Cyprus, March 29, 2016.
REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
The
Egyptian-American man holding 11 people, including four ‘foreigners’,
hostage on a passenger jet after hijacking the plane with a suicide
vest, has been branded an ‘idiot’ by his foreign ministry.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the four
passengers to be two British citizens, one Italian and one Irish man,
being held alongside the flight crew.
The hijacker, identified as university
professor Ibrahim Samaha, has asked negotiators at Larnaca airport for
political asylum – and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife.
Hijack Romeo: This picture reportedly show
hijacker Ibrahim Samaha, 27, who has asked negotiators at Larnaca
airport for asylum – and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife
How cheesy: This image shows the moment ‘dairy
professor’ Samaha hands over the letter intended for his ex-wife, as a
female airport offical stands with her head in her hands
Released: The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has
rubbished claims that Samaha is a terrorist, saying: ‘Terrorists are
crazy but they aren’t stupid. This guy is’
A picture from the tarmac shows the moment
Samaha hands over a four-page letter intended for his ex-wife, as a
female official stands with her head in her hands.
Airport officials are onboard the plane
and have yet to find any explosives, as Samaha’s ex-wife is said to be
making her way to Larnaca to help with negotiations.
Egypt’s civil aviation minister says seven
people remain with the hijacker on the EgyptAir plane that has landed
in Cyprus, four crew and three passengers.
The minister, Sharif Fathi, would not
disclose any names but there has been confusion over the identity of the
hijacker. He spoke to the media in Cairo shortly after the hijacking.
An Egyptian woman has said she is the wife
of Ibrahim Samaha – the name given earlier by Egyptian officials as the
hijacker. She says her husband, with the same name, is not the hijacker
and that he was on his way to Cairo en route to the United States to
attend a conference.
The woman, who identified herself as
Nahla, told the private TV network ONTV in a telephone interview that
her husband had never been to Cyprus and that a photo shown on Egyptian
and regional TV channels and purporting to show the hijacker is not her
husband.
The confusion over the identity of the hijacker could not immediately be resolved.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a
statement: ‘He’s not a terrorist, he’s an idiot. Terrorists are crazy
but they aren’t stupid. This guy is,’ according to Cairo-based
journalist Ruth Michaelson.
Ibrahim Abdel Tawab Samaha was identified as the hijacker by Egyptian government spokesman Hossam al-Queish earlier on Tuesday.
Officials at the Egyptian airport of Bourg el-Arab airport just outside Alexandria said Samaha has dual US-Egyptian citizenship.
He works as professor of veterinary
medicine at Alexandria University, where a staff website explains that
he specialises in health food control of milk and dairy products.
Hijacked: The EgyptAir was enroute to Cairo,
carrying 62 people – including eight Brits and ten Americans – when it
was hijacked by a man in an explosive vest
An official boards a hijacked Egyptair A320
Airbus at Larnaca Airport in, Cyprus, to negotiate with the hijacker,
who has since been identified as Ibrahim Samaha
Passengers are reunited with their luggage on
the tarmac after being allowed off the plane, where the crew and four
hostages are reportedly still being held
Egyptian media reports that he ordered the pilot to fly to Turkey but was told they did not have enough fuel
EgyptAir MS181, carrying 62 people,
including eight Brits and ten Americans, was en-route from Alexandria to
Cairo when it was hijacked, forcing it to land on Cyprus.
Negotiations with Samaha has since
resulted in the release of a majority of the hostages, except for the
crew and four foreigners, EgyptAir said.
The nationalities of the hostages have not
yet been confirmed, but The Guardian reported them to be two Brits, one
Italian and one Irish man.
The hijacking of the plane, carrying 55 passengers and a crew of seven, was confirmed by EgyptAir on Twitter at 7.40am GMT.
Flight MS181 took off from the
Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria en route to Cairo with at least
55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and a seven-member crew.
An official with flight-tracking website
FlightRadar24 said the plane showed no immediate signs of distress. The
flight between Alexandria and Cairo normally takes about 30 minutes.
The plane diverted to Cyprus after the
captain, Omar Jamal, was alerted to the presence of a passenger who was
wearing an explosive belt.
Egyptian newsite Youm7 is reporting that Samaha ordered the pilot to fly to Turkey but was told they did not have enough fuel.
Ibrahim Samaha, believed to be a 27-year-old
Egyptian national, continues to hold the crew and four passengers of
unknown nationalities hostage on the tarmac
Emergency landing: The Egypt Air jet was en-route from Alexandria to Cairo when it was reportedly hijacked
After leaving Alexandria the plane was diverted from it’s route to Cairo, and flown to Cyprus
A statement from the Egyptian Civil
Aviation Ministry statement said the foreigners on board included eight
Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an
Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian. Three other foreigners could not be
identified.
The plane landed at Larnaca airport at around 8.50am (6.50am GMT), police in Cyprus said.
Cypriot government officials said that
after the plane landed, the hijackers demanded that police vehicles move
away from the aircraft.
Questions have been raised as to how the hijacker was able to embark on the plane wearing the suicide vest.
Egyptian authorities promised to tighten
airport security in the wake of the downing of a Russian Metrojet
airplane in October last year, where all 224 passengers died.
Investigations later found that explosives
had been smuggled onto the Airbus A321-231, most likely at Sharm
el-Sheikh International Airport, which then crashed minutes after it
took off from the Red Sea resort.
Source – dailymail.co,uk
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