Cyprus: 49 released, hijacking not terrorism
Cyprus says 49 passengers have been released -- which conflicts with Egypt's statement an hour ago that only 12 people (five foreigners plus the crew) out of 81 were still on the plane.
Here's the statement from Cyprus: “It seems that 49 passengers have been released. We are doing our utmost in order for everyone to be released and safe and to give an end to this unprecedented (incident). In any case it is not something which has to do with terrorism."
Hijacker is an American-Egyptian national -- incident is over ex-wife
The hijacker is an Egyptian-American dual citizen named Ibrahim Samaha, Egyptian presidential spokesman Alaa Yousuf tells CNN's Ian Lee.
Samaha hijacked the plane over his ex-wife, a spokesperson for the Cyprus Ministry of transport tells CNN.
The incident is not related to terrorism, he said.
Analysis: Security and demands
“This was an internal flight and we know that internal flights don’t have rigorous security checks,” says Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations at London School of Economics.
“We have to wait and see the demands of the hijackers -- if it’s petty demands then I don’t think Egyptian authorities will want to turn this hijacking into a tragedy.”
Watch this video to see how pilots deal with hijackers.
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