Hostage’s gleeful photo with plane hijacker goes viral

In an act some may call daring and others incredibly foolish, a British man had a photo taken of himself with the hijacker of the EgyptAir flight that was forced to land in Cyprus on Tuesday.

An Egyptian wearing a fake explosives belt and identified by authorities as Seif Eldin Mustafa hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and forced it to land in Cyprus, where he demanded to meet his Cypriot ex-wife. He later surrendered and was taken into custody after releasing all passengers and crew unharmed following an hours-long standoff.

But before he was released, a man identified by the English press as 26-year-old Benjamin Innes from Leeds had a stewardess take a photo in which he can be seen standing and grinning next to the hijacker, who is wearing a suicide bomb belt that was only later determined to be fake.

According to the Daily Mail, Innes sent the photo to his friends over his phone’s WhatsApp app, writing, “You know your boy doesn’t f*** about. Turn on the news lad!!!”

Chris Tundogan, who shares an apartment with Innes, told the Daily Mail, “I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he’s not afraid to shy away from anything.”

Innes, who likely took the photo as the Airbus 320 was grounded on the tarmac in Cyprus, was one of the last hostages released by the hijacker.

[ndnvideo id=”30548090″]

Officials said early on that the hijacking was not an act of terrorism, and later that the hijacker appeared to be psychologically unstable.

However, the incident was likely to renew concerns about Egyptian airport security months after a Russian passenger plane was downed over the Sinai Peninsula in a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group.

“From the start, it was clear that this wasn’t an act of terrorism, and despite the fact that the individual appeared to be dangerous in terms of his behavior, we understood that this was a psychologically unstable person,” Cyprus’s Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides told reporters.

He said the man initially asked to speak with his Cypriot ex-wife, who police brought to the airport.

“After that, he started asking for European Union representatives to assure him about matters that had no logical basis,” Kasoulides said.

At one point the hijacker demanded the release of women held in Egyptian prisons, but he then dropped the demand and made others. “His demands made no sense or were too incoherent to be taken seriously,” the minister said, adding that the contents of a letter the hijacker wanted to give to his ex-wife “were also incoherent.”

Egypt’s Interior Ministry identified the hijacker as the 58-year-old Mustafa. It said he has a long criminal record, with charges including forgery, theft and drug possession. He had also served time in prison, it said.