Egyptian press: Incident will affect tourism 
 
 Describing it as "the easiest and the most foolish hijacking of a plane", private newspaper al-Masry al-Youm recalled the "critical" timing of the incident as Egypt was trying to recover from the downing of a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015. My 'selfie' with hijacker 
 
 Hijacker jokes divide social media 
 
 How the hijacking unfolded 
 
 EgyptAir flight MS181 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official, when it was diverted to Cyprus. Seif al-Din Mustafa, described by Cypriot officials as being mentally disturbed, used a fake suicide belt to hijack the Egyptair flight and forced it to fly to Larnaca. After the jet landed in Larnaca about 9 a.m., the hijacker asked to speak to his Cypriot ex-wife, who was brought to the airport, and he sent out a letter from the aircraft to give to her, said Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides. Airport security 
 
 A statement from Egypt's civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian. Just minutes before the arrest, several people were seen also getting off the aircraft, and a crew member — later identified as Ahmed el-Qaddah — climbed out of the cockpit window and slid down the side of the plane in accordance with his training for such emergencies. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said the hijacking was "not something that has to do with terrorism." Image copyright AP Image caption Mustafa giving a V-sign to journalists moments after appearing tired and drawn in court 
 
 President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter's question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: "Always there is a woman involved." CCTV footage released by the interior ministry shows Mr Mustafa being frisked at two security checks and passing a slim bag through X-ray machines at Alexandria's Borg El Arab airport. Russia suspended all air links to Egypt after the revelations about the bombing, dealing a major blow to the Egyptian tourism industry.
– What to do when you're being held hostage on an aircraft by somebody who appears to be wearing a suicide vest? For Ben Innes of Leeds, England, it was time for a selfie—with the hijacker. The 26-year-old, who was one of the last hostages left on the plane after hijacker Seif Eldin Mustafa forced the EgyptAir Alexandria-to-Cairo flight to land in Cyprus, tells the Sun that "I figured if his bomb was real I'd nothing to lose anyway, so [I] took a chance to get a closer look at it. 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. It has to be the best selfie ever." Innes' relieved mother tells the Telegraph that she takes issue with the description of the photo as a "selfie," since Ben didn't take it himself. Mustafa, whose explosives belt turned out to be a fake made from phone cases, appeared in court in Cyprus on Wednesday and was remanded in custody for eight days, the BBC reports. Authorities describe the 59-year-old as a "psychologically unstable person" who made assorted incoherent demands, the AP reports. Egypt's ambassador to Cyprus says the incident stemmed from a "family feud," probably involving Mustafa's ex-wife, who lives in Cyprus and was brought to the airport at his request. "He's not a terrorist, he's an idiot," another foreign ministry official says. "Terrorists are crazy, but they aren't stupid. This guy is."