CYPRUS (CNN) — The EgyptAir hijacker is in the custody of authorities in Cyprus, Homer Mavrommatis, director of the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs Crisis Management Center, said Tuesday.
A tweet from the ministry said only that the situation is “over” and that the hijacker had been arrested.
News of the arrest came after video showed people leaving the EgyptAir plane at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus. One person was seen exiting a plane window. It’s unclear whether the people were passengers or crew, but earlier Tuesday, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy Ateyya said that only seven people remained on board.
All passengers have been evacuated, according to a tweet from EgyptAir.
The incident began when an Egyptian man allegedly hijacked the EgyptAir flight because of his ex-wife, forcing the plane to land in Cyprus, officials said Tuesday.
Authorities identified the hijacker as Egyptian national Seif El Din Mustafa, presidential spokesman Alaa Yousuf said.
Earlier, Yousuf identified the hijacker as an Egyptian-American dual citizen with a different name.
The Airbus 320 was carrying at least 81 people, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said.
The hijacking is not related to terrorism, but rather the hijacker’s ex-wife, a spokesman for the Cyprus Transport Ministry said.
Egyptian authorities had been negotiating with the hijacker.
Threat of explosives
EgyptAir Flight 181 should have been a short one — from Alexandria, Egypt, to the capital city of Cairo. But during the flight, a passenger claimed he had an explosive belt, pilot Omar El Gamal said, according to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry.
That forced the plane to land at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus.
“Pilots will have a special signal they can use to airport traffic control,” said Tom Ballentyne, chief correspondent for Oriental Aviation. “It might be a code word or a signal they can use that will alert air traffic control that there is problem.”
Officials didn’t know whether the hijacker really has an explosive belt, but “ee are dealing with it as a real threat because we cannot take any risk,” the Egyptian aviation minister said.
Aviation Ministry spokesman Ehab Raslan said he didn’t think the hijacker actually had explosives “because security has been heightened across all Egyptian airports. But we will be able to confirm later,” Raslan said.
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