Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy confirmed that the plane was hijacked by a man who claimed to have a suicide belt.
During a press conference, the minister added that hijacker’s demands remain unknown, or at least cannot be stated publicly. “Up to now we have not had any effective demands that we can announce,” he says.
The hijacker also asked for the plane to go to either Turkey or Cyprus, the minister stated.
There were 55 people of “various nationalities” on board, Fathy said. They do not yet know if the suicide belt is real, but the siege is being dealt with as if it is.
He added that now on the plane are seven people : the captain and co-pilot, a female crew member, a security officer and three passengers.
Fathy said that they cannot reveal the nationalities of the passengers on board and more than one authority is taking part in the negotiations.
“We are dealing with the situation at the highest possible level. As we speak, there are no specific demands raised by the hijacker. I request you not to listen to the reports. Negotiations are underway and we cannot disclose any specific demands. We cannot determine the duration of the negotiation, our priority is the safety of all onboard. I request you not to listen to any reports, only to information released by me.Certain information cannot be disclosed, we cannot be overwhelmed by journalistic instincts. Let us do our duties and then we can release all the pieces of information at a later stage. Any reports on names or nationalities is not in the best interest.”, minister Fathy stated.
Source: The Guardian and First Post
