CAIRO – An EgyptAir plane was hijacked on Tuesday while flying from the Egyptian Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria to the capital, Cairo, and later landed in Cyprus where some of the women and children were allowed to get off the aircraft, according to Egyptian and Cypriot officials.
The Airbus flight number MS181 had 81 passengers on board and was flying on a regular route when the hijacking took place, the Egyptians said. It was not immediately clear if one or more hijackers were involved.
Details were sketchy and the motives and identities of the hijacker or hjackers were also not known.
Shortly after, the plane landed at the airport in the Cypriot coastal city of Larnaca, Cypriot officials said, adding that there were suspicions of a bomb on board.
The official later said the hijackers later allowed an unspecified number of women and children to go free and some were disembarking.