A hijacked Egyptian plane with a suspected bomb on board has landed at Larnaca airport in Cyprus.
The EgyptAir plane was reportedly taken over by at least one armed man while flying from Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to the capital Cairo, the country’s civil aviation authority said.
Around 55 people and seven crew are believed to be on board.
EgyptAir confirmed the incident, saying on Twitter: ” Our flight MS181 is officially hijacked”, and added that a statement would follow.
Cypriot government officials said that after the plane, an Airbus A320, landed at Larnaca airport on Tuesday morning hijackers demanded that police vehicles move away from the aircraft.
One official said it “seems like there’s more than one hijacker” on the plane.
In a statement on Twitter, Egypt Air there was a threat from a passenger with an explosive belt.
The Airbus was carrying 81 passengers.
Hijackers are allowing women and children to leave the aircraft, with some now disembarking, Cypriot officials said.
A spokesman for Cyprus Police said: “There is a hijack in an EgyptAir plane. The aeroplane landed at 8.50 this morning at the international airport at Larnaca.
“That is all we have for the time being.”
He also said he had “no idea” whether there were any British people on board.
EgyptAir said that a passenger with a “belt in possession” had forced the pilot to land at Larnaca airport, and negotiations are under way with the “kidnappers”.
A motive for the hijacking is unclear but the incident will raise questions over security at Egyptian airports, coming just five months after 224 people were killed when a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft, and the extremist Islamic State group (IS) said it was responsible.
Cyprus is a popular tourist destination for British holidaymakers, with around a million visiting every year.
Flights are being diverted away from Larnaca airport as a result of the hijacking, and the Foreign Office urged anyone travelling to the country to contact their airline or travel company.
Seven people – four crew and three passengers – remain on the EgyptAir plane with the hijacker, according to Egypt’s civil aviation minister.
A senior Alexandria airport official said those on board the flight when it took off included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, one Italian and 30 Egyptians.
Cypriot TV pictures from moments ago show someone jumping out of the plane from the cockpit window, after three people left the plane via the staircase.
This still shows one person escaping from the plane via the cockpit window. The person clambered on to a structure before jumping to the ground and jogging away from the plane towards safety.
The hijack of an Egyptian plane which was forced to divert to Cyprus after a man on board claimed to have a suicide belt is a return to “the security stone age”, an aviation expert has warned.
David Learmount said it seemed the captain of the flight “didn’t have faith in the security systems” and felt he had to follow the hijacker’s demands, resulting in the “first major successful hijack since 9/11”.
He said the incident, involving an EgyptAir domestic flight between Alexandria and Cairo, appeared to be “a hoax”, amid reports the man was trying to contact his estranged wife.
Seven people, including three passengers, are being held hostage aboard the plane after it diverted to Larnaca airport in Cyprus.
But Mr Learmount said the captain should have been confident that it was “impossible” for someone to have got through security with a suicide belt.
“It is taking us back to the security stone age – pre 9/11 when we had lots and lots of regular hijacks because the drill at that time was ’do what the hijacker asks of you and we will deal with it on the ground with negotiators on the ground’,” he said.
“Then after 9/11 they locked cockpit doors, made them bullet proof and everything. The drill now is supposed to be ’look we have a much improved security system on the ground and therefore we should be able to have faith in it’. The captain should be able to have faith in it.”
He said the captain’s decision was understandable “up to a point”, amid concerns over the security of Egyptian airports.
Five months ago 224 people were killed when a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft.
“The captain obviously didn’t have faith in the security systems so felt he had to go along with the demands”, Mr Learmount said.
“The system has been working because people have had faith in it. There has been lots of attempted hijacks by disrupted passengers and the captain has just said no.”
He added: “If the system was working he would have had sufficient faith to say this cannot be true, this is a hoax.”
Alleged hijacker ’emerges with hands held up’
Reuters are quoting Cyprus reports that the alleged hijacker has emerged from the plane with his hands held up