Man takes “selfie” with plane hijacker, image goes viral
A photo of a British passenger posing with the hijacker of an EgyptAir plane has circulated on social networks worldwide.
Ben Innes was on board the Cairo-bound EgyptAir’s Airbus A320 that was hijacked on Tuesday by Egyptian Seif Eldin Mustafa.
The Briton told UK newspaper The Sun on Wednesday that he was “trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity” when he posed for the photo, in which he is smiling widely while standing next to Mustafa, who has a fake suicide belt around his waist.
“I figured if his bomb was real I’d nothing lose anyway, so took a chance to get a closer look at it,” Innes said.
“I got one of the cabin crew to translate for me and asked him if I could do a selfie with him.”
“He just shrugged OK, so I stood by him and smiled for the camera while a stewardess did the snap,” the passenger added.
The hijacker forced the plane to divert its route shortly after it took off from Alexandria in Egypt, to land at Larnaca airport in Cyprus.
Mustafa was arrested after the release of all passengers and crew.
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