Passengers Released From Egypt Airoplane - Ary News Headlines 29 March 2016 ,
An official with flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 said the plane showed no immediate signs of distress. The flight between Alexandria and Cairo normally takes about 30 minutes.
Egyptian officials gave conflicting accounts as the drama unfolded. The Aviation Ministry said in a statement that the hijacker was wearing an explosives belt, which turned out to be untrue.
Egyptian government spokesman Hossam al-Queish identified the hijacker as Ibrahim Samaha, but an Egyptian woman who identified herself as Samaha's wife told a local TV station that her husband is not the hijacker and was on his way to Cairo so he could fly to the U.S. to attend a conference. She said a photo circulated by Egyptian and regional TV channels purportedly showing the hijacker was not her husband.
The Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said the foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian. Three other foreigners could not be identified.
The initial group of passengers released by the hijacker was seen calmly walking off the plane down a set of stairs, carrying their hand luggage and boarding a bus. Security was tight at the airport, with police repeatedly pushing back reporters and TV crews working just outside the fence, near where the aircraft stopped. Police also evacuated a nearby beach popular with tourists.
