Ben Innes posed for the photo with Seif Eldin Mustafa.
Ben Innes posed for the photo with Seif Eldin Mustafa.
A British man who took a selfie with the EygptAir hijacker while being held hostage sent messages to his friends in which he bragged: "You know your boy doesn't f*** about. Turn on the news lad!!!"
Ben Innes, who is from Leeds but living in Aberdeen, daringly posed for a photo with Seif Eldin Mustafa, after the Egyptian hijacked the plane and forced it to be redirected as it headed to Cairo.
The flight eventually landed at Cyprus' Larnaca airport, with 62 passengers on board, and Mr Innes was one of four "foreigners" and crew held hostage by Mustafa, during a dramatic six-hour standoff.
However, instead of panicking about his plight, Mr Innes - a health and safety auditor - appeared rather calm about the hostage situation and took a selfie before sending it to his friends in the UK.
Seif Eldin Mustafa: Cypriot authorities have described him as "unstable".
In a string of messages, he told one friend: "You know your boy doesn't f*** about. Turn on the news lad!!!". It was accompanied by a selfie of him with Mustafa, who was wearing a "fake" suicide belt.
The friend, seemingly worried, replied: "Wtf? Is that a bomb attached to the guys chest? You ok? Let us know when you get off."
Mr Innes is believed to have approached hijacker Mustafa while being held hostage on the tarmac, and sent the photo to one of his flatmates as well as other friends.
"I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he's no afraid to shy away from anything," Mr Innes' flatmate Chris Tundogan told MailOnline.
Mr Innes, centre, runs to safety with the other passengers held captive on EgyptAir Airbus A-320. Photo / Getty Images
"I find it pretty mental but that's just Ben I guess!"
Egyptian national Mustafa hijacked the domestic EgyptAir MS181, carrying 62 people, including eight Brits and ten Americans, shortly after it left Alexandria for Cairo early this morning.
Wearing a suicide belt - later found to have been fake - Mustafa forced the plane to re-route to Cyprus, where he proceeded to take several passengers and crew hostage and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife.
During the hostage situation on the tarmac, Mustafa made a series of erratic requests, including asking to meet with representatives of the European Union, and to be taken to other airports.
A picture from the tarmac showed the moment he handed over a four-page letter intended for his ex-wife, as a female airport official stands with her head in her hands.
Negotiations with the hijacker during the morning resulted in the release of a majority of the hostages, except for the crew and four foreigners, including Mr Innes.
After a six-hour standoff, the crew along with Mr Innes and two other male foreign nationals were released moments before the hijacker gave himself up.
They were seen running across the tarmac in the moments before Mustafa surrendered to police.
Mustafa disembarked the plane at around 14.40 local time with his hands up and threw some items on the ground, which were picked up by police and are being examined.
Alexandros Zenon, Secretary of the Cypriot Foreign Ministry, did not immediately have more details on the arrest, but added that the hijacker appeared to be "mentally unstable".
In the wake of his arrest, Cypriot authorities were able to determine that Mustafa's suicide belt had been a fake.
A man leaves the hijacked aircraft of Egyptair from the pilot's window. Photo / Getty Images
"According to security sources received from Cyprus Authorities at Larnaca International Airport, which stated that the explosive belt that the hijacker allegedly said that he was wearing, is fake," EgyptAir said in a statement.
His arrest followed a comment by an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official, who said: "He's not a terrorist, he's an idiot. Terrorists are crazy but they aren't stupid. This guy is."
