Co-pilot: Hijacker Demanded To Fly Out Of Cyprus

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The co-pilot of the EgyptAir Airbus that was hijacked on Tuesday was the last person to remain on board the A320 with the passenger who pretended to have an explosive belt and forced the crew to land in Cyprus. According to the account Hamad el Kaddah gave Newsweek, during the flight from Alexandria bound for Cairo, Seif el-Din Mustafa came out of a bathroom and told a flight attendant he had explosives. Kaddah and the captain, Amr al-Gammal, were told they were being hijacked and to go to Cyprus, Turkey or Athens. They reported the situation to ATC, chose to head for Cyprus based on their remaining fuel, and checked that the cockpit door was secured, Kaddah said in the report.

As the passengers and crew were released from the A320 as it sat on a runway at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus, Mustafa demanded fuel for the aircraft and a pilot to fly it. “I said I will stay. He wanted to refuel the plane to fly to another country,” Kaddah, 32, told Newsweek. “He just wanted someone to be in the plane, in the cockpit, ready to go.”Kaddah returned to the cockpit and closed the door. Then, he was seen climbing out the cockpit window and jumping onto the ground. Mustafa later surrendered to authorities, who found that the man was mentally unstable but did not have explosives. His motive hasn’t been confirmed, and he had referred to his ex-wife during the standoff. According to Kaddah’s account, Mustafa also made political demands but he was not permitted to disclose them.

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