CAIRO (Sputnik) — Egyptian authorities will soon send a backup plane to Cyprus in order to pick up passengers of the hijacked EgyptAir passenger flight MS181, Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, a man hijacked an Airbus A320 en route from Egypt’s Alexandria to Cairo with at least 60 people on board. The plane subsequently landed in the Cyprus Larnaca airport where the hijacker, a single male suicide bomber, released major part of the passengers.
"We will not wait for the plane that is returning from Cyprus at 4 p.m. [14:00 GMT], we will send a special plane to bring our passengers back to Cairo," the minister said.
According to Nicosia's police, the EgyptAir hijacker, a single male suicide bomber, remains on board with 5 crew members and 7 passengers.
