An EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus yesterday, but the passengers and crew were freed unharmed and the alleged hijacker, whose motives remained a mystery, was arrested after giving himself up.
Eighty-one people, including 21 foreigners and 15 crew, had been aboard the Airbus 320 flight when it took off, Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
Conflicting theories emerged about the hijacker’s motives, with Cypriot officials saying early on that the incident did not appear related to terrorism, but the Cypriot state broadcaster saying he had demanded the release of female prisoners in Egypt.
After the aircraft landed at Larnaca Airport, negotiations began and everyone aboard was freed except three passengers and four crew, Egypian Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fethy said.
Soon after his comments, Cypriot television footage showed several people leaving the plane via stairs and another man climbing out of a cockpit window and running off.
A man then surrendered to authorities.
Speaking to reporters after the crisis ended, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the alleged hijacker was an Egyptian but that his motives remained unclear.
“At some moments he asked to meet with a representative of the European Union and at other points he asked to go to another airport, but there was nothing specific,” he said, adding that the man would now be questioned to ascertain his motives.
Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Alexandros Zenon told reporters during the crisis that the hijacker appeared to be “unstable.”
Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said the plane’s pilot Omar al-Gammal had informed authorities that he was threatened by a passenger who claimed to be wearing a suicide explosives belt and forced him to divert the plane to Larnaca.
Photographs shown on Egyptian state television showed a middle-aged man on a plane wearing glasses and displaying a white belt with bulging pockets and protruding wires.
Fethy said authorities suspected the suicide belt was not genuine but treated the incident as serious to ensure the safety of all those aboard.
“Our passengers are all well and the crew is all well... We cannot say this was a terrorist act... He was not a professional,” Fethy told reporters after the incident.
In the midst of the crisis, witnesses said the hijacker had thrown a letter on the apron in Larnaca, written in Arabic, asking that it be delivered to his ex-wife, who is Cypriot.
However, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corp said the hijacker had asked for the release of women prisoners in Egypt, suggesting a political motive.
There was some confusion over the identity of the hijacker. Egypt’s official state news agency MENA initially named him as Egyptian national Ibrahim Samaha, but later said the hijacker was called Seif Eldin Mustafa.
The Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs also identified the hijacker as Mustafa.
Passengers on the plane included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, an Italian, a Syrian and French national, the ministry said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS