Stuck on a Plane Hijacked by a Man Wearing a Fake Bomb? Say 'Cheese'

On Tuesday 29 March, EgyptAir flight MS181 was hijacked en route to Cairo from Alexandria by a man threatening to blow up the aircraft.

Almost all of the 55 passengers were released by the hijacker, named Seif Eldin Mustafa by Cypriot officials — but Ben Innes was among three passengers and four crew members who were kept on board.

Doing the rounds in British media is the photograph of 26-year-old Ben Innes from Leeds in the UK, who now lives in Aberdeen, posing with the hijacker. He told tabloid newspaper The Sun:

"I'm not sure why I did it — I just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity."

Passenger Ben Innes then decided to ask a crew member to take a photograph of him with the hijacker. Gritting his teeth in a tense smile Innes stands with his sunglasses still on the top of his head next to the hijacker who appears to be wearing a suicide bomb around his waist.

"I could see he was wearing what looked like a bomb and I was obviously very scared. But he didn't seem particularly anxious," Innes told The Sun.

"About half an hour after we got to Larnaca, I asked to have my picture taken with him.

"We were sitting around and I thought, 'Why not? If he blows us all up it won't matter anyway.' "

All of the passengers and crew were eventually arrested and the hijacker was arrested. The suicide belt captured in the picture — has been found to be a fake.

Cypriot's president said the incident was not terrorism-related — but the hijacker's motives remain unclear, unlike the picture of him with passenger Ben Innes.