EgyptAir passenger reveals funny and fear-fuelled stories of how hostages acted during hijacking ordeal

‘A man called his wife to tell her about some hidden money… she forgot about the hijacking and asked him to repeat the bank name’

(Reuters)

A man who says he has finally arrived safely in Cairo after the EgyptAir hijacking has revealed how he and other passengers reacted to the terrifying ordeal.

From the extraordinary bravery of the flight crew to a man who seemed most worried about a frozen chicken, their stories show a human side to what was a very real threat at the time.

The incident has in part become a source of amusement for some, after it emerged the hijacker used a “bomb” made of iPhone covers and at least one British man saw the incident as a photo opportunity.

But AbdAllah El Ashmawy, a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at Alexandria University, confirmed the apparent suicide bomber, named as suspect Seif Elden Mustafa, was taken seriously at the time.

“It is funny from your side I know,” he said. “It was of course a very painful experience to be on a Hijacked plane in the middle of the sea with a guy at the back of the plane who claims he has explosives.”

Writing on Facebook, Mr El Ashmawy reserved praise for the EgyptAir crew who “managed to keep a smile all through the flight”. He said: “I can see one of them crying in her front seat but once she stands up again she keeps her smile just to calm people.”

He says it was the actions of his fellow passengers that “made my day”, however, describing one man who fell asleep, woke up to be told they were heading to Cyprus and remarked: “Why Cyprus ??!..I will miss my connection.”

One man, Mr El Ashmawy said, “called his wife to tell her about some money he was hiding in a bank”. “The funniest part is his wife forgetting about the hijack thing and asking him to repeat the bank name,” he wrote.

The plane was hijacked by a man claiming to have a bomb shortly after it left Alexandria bound for Cairo at around 7am on Tuesday.

Instead of heading south, it proceeded north to Larnaca airport in Cairo where the pilots requested to land, saying they were being forced to do so by a man “in possession of explosives”.

Egyptian officials later said they suspected the hijackers claims to be false, but the decision was made to proceed with caution and act as though he was armed with genuine explosives.

Mr Mustafa, who was arrested after six hours at Larnaca when he left the plane with his hands in the air, appeared in court in Cyprus on Wednesday morning where prosecutors said he admitted hijacking the plane. He has been ordered to remain in prison for eight days while the case against him is considered.