The hostage situation on-board the EgyptAir MS181 has been resolved after all passengers and crew members were freed and the hijacker was arrested by the Cypriot authorities.
The Cypriot foreign ministry announced that the hijacker was arrested at about 2.00pm, more than seven hours after the incident began.
The Egyptian foreign minister later gave a press statement confirming the freeing all the passengers and crew members. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail revealed that the hijacker is Egyptian and investigations are underway.
The plane was hijacked on Tuesday morning after departing from Alexandria’s Borg Al-Arab airport. A hijacker, identified as Seif Eddin Mostafa, purported to be wearing an explosive belt, forcing pilot Amr Al-Gamal to reroute to Laranca instead of the original destination of Cairo.
There has yet to be an official confirmation of the motives behind the hijacking.
