EgyptAir Hijack Live: 'Idiot' hijacker arrested, all hostages released, Cyprus foreign ministry confirms

Egypt's civil aviation authority says an EgyptAir plane has been hijacked while flying from the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria to the capital, Cairo.

Aparna Chandrashekar|Mar 29, 2016, 17:32:24 IST

A Cypriot government official says the hijacked plane landed on Tuesday morning at the airport in Larnaca and that there are suspicions of a bomb on board, said a report from AP.The AP report said that a second Cypriot official says there "seems like there's more than one hijacker." He says there have been no demands other than that police vehicles move away from the aircraft.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.[caption id="attachment_2701082" align="alignleft" width="825"]

The EgyptAir flight was slated to fly from Alexandria to Cairo. The plan was hijacked in Alexandria when the pilot was forced to land the aircraft at Larnaka airport in Cyprus.[/caption]The statement from the Egyptian aviation authority says the MS181 is an Airbus and that it has about 60 passengers on board and five crew members, one of whom is thought to be armed, according to CNN IBN.The hijackers contacted the control tower at 8.30 am (0530 GMT) and the plane was given permission to land at 8.50 am, the police said, reported AFP.The hijackers made no immediate demands and a crisis team has been deployed to the airport.Here are the official tweets from EgyptAir:

(landed at larnakh and is negotiating with the kidnappers)EgyptAir's official press release:

Press Release 1Cairo 29 March 2016 An EGYPTAIR official declared that its flight number MS181 heading from HBE... Posted by EGYPTAIR on Tuesday, 29 March 2016

التصريح الصحفي 2القاهرة 29 مارس 201609:00المفاوضات مع المختطف تسفر عن الإفراج عن جميع ركاب الطائرة فيما عدا طاقم الطائرة وخمس أجانب. Posted by EGYPTAIR on Tuesday, 29 March 2016

With inputs from Agencies

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