Ben Innes: Family of British man who posed for a 'selfie' with EgyptAir hijacker ask for privacy when he returns home
The 26-year-old has described the photo as the 'best selfie ever'
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The family of the British tourist who posed for a photo with the EgyptAir hijacker have asked to be left alone when he returns to the UK.
Ben Innes, who is originally from Leeds but now lives in Aberdeen, sent an image of himself to friends of him with Seif Eldin Mustafa - accompanied by the message “You know your boy doesn't f*** about. Turn on the news lad!!!”
Mustafa is suspected of hijacking EgyptAir flight and forcing it to fly to Cyprus.
Mr Innes’ mother Pauline told ITV News: "We are relieved beyond explanation that Ben and everyone is safe and well.
"We do not know the facts about this as we have not spoken to Ben at any great length.
"All we know is he is now safe and looking forward to coming home.
"We would appreciate absolute privacy at this time as we are trying to come to terms with what has been a horrendous ordeal."
The 26-year-old posed for the image of him with Mustafa wearing what later turned out to be a fake suicide belt made with mobile phone and described it as the “best selfie ever”.
He told the Sun: "I just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity. I figured if his bomb was real I’d nothing to lose anyway, so took a chance to get a closer look at it.
“I got one of the cabin crew to translate for me and asked him if I could do a selfie with him. He just shrugged OK, so I stood by him and smiled for the camera while a stewardess did the snap. It has to be the best selfie ever.”
Mustafa allegedly forced to plane to land at Larnaca airport on Tuesday morning and made a series of series demands during the six-hour standoff - including the release of female political prisoners in Egypt, to see his ex-wife, to see an EU official and to be taken to another airport.
Eventually he let most of the 62 people onboard leave with the exception of several crew members and three foreigners, including Mr Innes, before surrendering.
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