Women, Children Being Allowed To Leave Hijacked EgyptAir Plane In Cyprus
Women and children on board a hijacked Egyptian plane that landed in Cyprus are being allowed to disembark, according to news agency Associated Press.
Nearly 80 people were on board, including crew.
Earlier, a hijacker threatened to detonate an explosives belt, Egypt civil aviation sources have said.
EgyptAir confirmed the hijacking on Twitter.
Our flight MS181 is officially hijacked. we’ll publish an official statement now.#Egyptair
– EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
Unidentified hijackers seized the EgyptAir airliner on Tuesday and diverted it to Cyprus, where it landed at Larnaca airport on the south coast.
Associated Press also cited an unidentified police official as saying that the hijackers had asked for police vehicles to move away from the plane. But no other demands have been reported so far.
The hijackers contacted the control tower at 8:30 am (0530 GMT) and the plane was given permission to land at 8:50 am, the police said.
The Egypt Air plane was flying from the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria to the capital, Cairo when it was hijacked.