No one hurt as EgyptAir flight is forced to Cyprus in a hijacking from the heart

Getting out of Egypt was never going to be easy for Seif Eldin Mustafa, a fugitive Egyptian convict who has been on the run since he escaped from prison 5 years ago. But Tuesday, he resorted to extraordinary measures. Claiming to be wearing an explosive vest, Mustafa commandeered an EgyptAir passenger airliner en route to Cairo from Alexandria, forced it to divert to Cyprus, and set in motion a tense standoff lasting hours. He issued an incoherent set of demands that left officials alarmed, puzzled and touched before he gave himself up. In the end, the crisis ended peacefully, only after confused scenes, including a hostage leaping from a cockpit window. Mustafa, who it turned out did not have explosives, walked off the plane with his hands up. The Foreign Ministry of Cyprus described him as “psychologically unstable.” <br/>