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British hostage on hijacked flight sent daring messages to friends
One of four British passengers taken hostage on an Egyptair flight posed for a photo with the hijacker and sent messages from onboard the aircraft to friends back in the UK.
Ben Innes, aged 26, from Leeds, was one of the last three hostages to be released by Seif Eldin Mustafa before he gave himself up at Larnaca airport.
Innes sent the image of himself with Mustafa on the aircraft to a friend with the message "You know your boy doesn’t f*** about. Turn on the news lad!"
The health and safety executive from Leeds, who lives in Aberdeen, was on his way home from a work trip when his flight was hijacked.
Mustafa had forced the pilot of the domestic flight MS 181 from Borg El Arab airport in Alexandria to Cairo to divert to Cyprus by threatening to blow up the A320, which was carrying 56 passengers, six crew and a security official.
It later turned out that Mustafa was wearing a fake suicide belt.
On landing in Larnaca, he initially asked to speak to his Cypriot ex-wfie, who police brought to the airport, Foreign minister Iaonnis Kasoulides said he then made a series of ‘incoherent’ demands before giving himself up.
He was due to appear in court in Larnaca today. The Egyptair flight continued its journey to Cairo last night.
Egypt’s minsiter of tourism Yehia Rashed released the following statement last night.
"Earlier this morning there was an attempted hijack of EgyptAir flight from Alexandria to Cairo. All passengers and crew are safe and the attempt ended peacefully with Cypriot officials arresting the individual concerned.
"We congratulate the EgyptAir Captain and his crew for landing the plane safely and for putting the safety of the passengers as a priority, in a highly professional manner and in accordance with international aviation standards.
"The Egyptian Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail, was personally involved in helping to resolve this incident and EgyptAir is currently taking the necessary steps to bring back all passengers involved.
"We are assured by passengers on the flight that all security measures at Borg El Arab Airport were fully implemented.
"Egypt’s top priority is always to ensure the security and well-being of all travellers at all times."
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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