Re: Possibile dirottamento causa atto terroristico Volo Egypt Air
Incident: Egypt A320 near Cairo on Mar 29th 2016, hijacked to Larnaca
By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Mar 29th 2016 06:33Z, last updated Tuesday, Mar 29th 2016 08:19Z
An Egyptair Airbus A320-200, registration SU-GCB performing flight MS-181 from Alexandria to Cairo (Egypt) with 56 passengers, 7 crew and one security officer, was on approach to Cairo at FL150 about 20nm northwest of the aerodrome when the crew turned the aircraft north, climbed to FL210 and diverted to Larnaca (Cyprus) stating they were hijacked. The aircraft received direct vectors to Larnaca and landed safely in Larnaca about 38 minutes later, however, below required final fuel reserve. 51 passengers disembarked after first negotiations.
The aerodrome of Larnaca is currently closed, the aircraft sitting on a remote area of the aerodrome, apparently all doors closed, stairs have been placed at the main door, the main door was opened and a good number of passenges left the aircraft and entered a bus taking them to the terminal.
According to sources inside Egyptair a passenger claiming to wear a bomb belt demanded the aircraft to be diverted to Larnaca, otherwise he would explode the belt.
The airline confirmed the aircraft was hijacked to Larnaca, negotiations with the hijacker are currently going on. The hijacker threatened the crew with a belt and demanded the aircraft to land in Larnaca. The airline later announced that the hijacker agreed to release all occupants but the crew and 4 foreigners. About 15 minutes later the airline confirmed all occupants except crew and 4 foreigners (and hijacker) have disembarked.
Cyprus and Egypt media report the hijacker is a 27 year old Egyptian national married to a Cypriot wife living in Cyprus. The hijacker requested asylum in Cyprus.
According to flight plan alternate aerodromes were Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxor (Egypt), the aircraft carried 4203kg of fuel on departure, 1358 kg trip fuel (29 minutes), 1672kg diversion fuel (41 minutes), 172kg contingency (5 minutes) and 1001kg required minimum fuel reserve (30 minutes).
