(CNN)A plane has been hijacked and has landed at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, Larnaca police press office confirms to CNN.
The
flight was an internal flight heading from Burj El Arab airport in the
northern Egyptian city of Alexandria to the capital Cairo, Ihab Raslan,
spokesman for the Egyptian ministry of civil aviation, tells CNN.
Negotiations
with the hijacker have resulted in the release of all passengers,
except for seven crew and four foreigners, a statement from the Egyptian
ministry of civil aviation said.
The Airbus 320 EgyptAir flight, designated MS181, has at least 81 people on board, according to the ministry.
Pilot
Omar El Gamal has reported a threat from a passenger claiming to have
an explosive belt, who forced the plane to land in Cyprus, the statement
added.
"We don't know whether it is real, but if it is, how on earth did he get it on board?" Geoffrey Thomas from Airlineratings.com told CNN.
Questionable air security
The hijacking comes months after a Russian Metrojet passenger plane was downed
over Egypt's Sinai desert. While Russian authorities insisted the plane
crash was the result of terrorism, one U.S. official said it was "99.9% certain" the cause. Another said it was "likely."
Egypt
was insisting that airports were safe, and that tourists should come
back. But this is going to raise a lot of questions about just how safe
the country, and its air travel is, CNN's Ian Lee says.
Questions about the amount of security at the airports, have been raised, but the quality of the security.
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