Skip to content
The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

Title

Name

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Mindanao
  • Visayas
  • National
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • SciTech
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Regional Advertising Rates
    • Contact Us
    • Profile
  • Home
  • International
  • EgyptAir hijack: Man held after using fake suicide belt – BBC News
  • Featured
  • International

EgyptAir hijack: Man held after using fake suicide belt – BBC News

Editor March 30, 2016

An Egyptian hijacker who forced a domestic flight to land in Cyprus used a fake suicide belt, officials said.

His motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism-related.

Footage released by Egypt’s interior ministry shows the man passing through several security checks at Alexandria’s Borg El Arab airport.

The drama ended with all passengers released unhurt at Larnaca airport and the man giving himself up.

Cypriot officials named the hijacker as Seif Eldin Mustafa and said he was “psychologically unstable”.

Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said Mustafa had initially asked to speak with his Cypriot ex-wife, who police brought to the airport, before making a series of “incoherent” demands.

He was appearing in court in the Cypriot city of Larnaca on Wednesday.

The Egyptair plane left Larnaca at 22:05 local time (19:05 GMT) bound for Cairo, its original destination.

Questions over security

Egypt’s tourism ministry insisted all airport security measures had been “fully implemented” before Egyptair Flight MS181 began its flight earlier in the day.

CCTV footage released by the interior ministry shows Mustafa being frisked at two security checks and passing a slim bag through X-ray machines.

The BBC’s Youssef Taha says Egypt has taken steps to improve airport security after Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown up over Sinai last October.

They include an extra $1bn a year and a deal with British consultancy Control Risks to review procedures at Cairo, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam airports.

Despite this, our correspondent says checks remain inconsistent, with many VIPs and MPs refusing to be searched and airport and airline staff routinely bypassing full security screening.

It is only some small comfort that the man who hijacked Egyptair flight MS181 was bluffing. The bulging white “suicide belt” with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake.

It at least means that this time Egypt cannot be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El-Sheikh airport, destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid-air.

But it still triggers a number of worrying questions about aviation security.

How was it that a passenger, described by the Cypriot authorities as “mentally unstable” was able to carry enough materials through Alexandria airport to resemble a bomb?

And what is to stop any future airline passenger, similarly unarmed, from pretending that he or she has a real device strapped to them?

For Egypt’s battered tourism industry, which has yet to recover from the October airline bombing, this hijack is a further blow it can ill afford.

 

‘Always a woman involved’

After a standoff lasting several hours, the hijacker walked down aircraft steps and surrendered to Cypriot security forces.

Shortly before that, several people were seen fleeing the aircraft, including one person, apparently a crew member, who climbed out of a cockpit window.

Other passengers had left the plane after appearing to have been released.

Earlier, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter’s question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: “Always there is a woman involved.”

 

Egyptair said the Airbus A320 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official.

A statement from Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian.(BBC News)

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35921579

 

fb-share-icon
Tweet 20

Continue Reading

Previous: Women’s rights awareness highlights Women’s Month celebration in ARMM
Next: Families of US military, government workers ordered home from southern Turkey – Fox News

Related News

Bountiful-harvest
  • Featured
  • Mindanao Post

Aquaponics to conservation: How a young farmer is growing change

Editor May 28, 2025
BLT-1
  • Business
  • Featured

Joy of Sharing: Jollibee Group Foundation Marks 20 Years of Impactful Partnerships and Progress

Editor May 22, 2025
Ursula-von-der-Leyen
  • International

EU to ban all Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027, says von der Leyen

Editor May 7, 2025

Trending News

Manny Pacquiao Returns to Rewrite History – The Fight That Will Inspire a Nation Pacquiao 1
  • Sports

Manny Pacquiao Returns to Rewrite History – The Fight That Will Inspire a Nation

May 29, 2025
Optum Philippines celebrates first anniversary of Davao Hub and Davaoeño talent MAJ03649 2
  • Business

Optum Philippines celebrates first anniversary of Davao Hub and Davaoeño talent

May 29, 2025
PhilHealth Speeds Up Payments, releases over P592M to NKTI in less than 5 Months PhilHealth1 3
  • Health

PhilHealth Speeds Up Payments, releases over P592M to NKTI in less than 5 Months

May 29, 2025
BARMM brings medical missions to IDP shelters in Marawi Health-mission 4
  • Mindanao Post

BARMM brings medical missions to IDP shelters in Marawi

May 28, 2025
911 in Camiguin town logs over 500 calls since January Service-expansion 5
  • Mindanao Post

911 in Camiguin town logs over 500 calls since January

May 28, 2025
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Blog
Copyright © 2025. The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper. All Rights Reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.