7 People Still On Board Hijacked Egypt Air Plane

NEW DELHI: Four crew members and three passengers are still on board the EgyptAir plane that was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus. Reports say the hijacker is now demanding the release of some female prisoners in Egypt.

The Airbus was hijacked this morning when it was headed from Alexandria in Egypt to Cairo, the capital.
At about 1 PM, EgyptAir reported that about 49 people were released. Then, a group of passengers was seen disembarking the plane.

Nearly 60 passengers and seven crew members were on the plane according to an EgyptAir statement. It landed at the airport in Lanarca in the south of Cyprus.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has said the hijacking was not related to terrorism.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry earlier said that the hijacker had threatened the captain with blowing up a belt of explosives.

Local media then reported that the motives of the hijacker appeared personal, and he had asked to contact his ex wife, who lives in Cyprus.

An Egyptian government spokesman told a news channel that the hijacker wanted to go to Istanbul but was told by the captain that he did not have enough fuel for the journey.

Egyptian state media had earlier named the hijacker as Ibrahim Samaha, but it emerged later that he was a passenger.

Cyprus has seen little militant activity for decades, despite its proximity to the Middle East.

A botched attempt by Egyptian commandos to storm a hijacked airliner at Larnaca airport led to the disruption of diplomatic relations between Cyprus and Egypt in 1978. In 1988, a Kuwaiti airliner which had been hijacked from Bangkok to Kuwait in a 16-day siege had a stopover in Larnaca, where two hostages were killed.

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Source:Ndtv