Airlines
Authorities Probe Possible Security Lapse in Egyptair Hijacking
Incident raises new questions about Egyptian airport security

Authorities are investigating how the Egyptian man who hijacked an Egyptair Airbus A320 Tuesday managed to smuggle a fake suicide belt onto the airplane, raising further questions about airport security in Egypt in the aftermath of last year’s bombing of a Russian passenger jet on its way to St. Petersburg from Sharm El Sheikh. Fooling crewmembers into thinking he carried explosives, the hijacker, identified as Seif El Din Mustafa, ordered them to divert from the flight’s intended route from Alexandria to Cairo, and turn north toward the Mediterranean Sea. The A320 finally landed in Larnaca, Cyprus, where police convinced the hijacker to release most of the airplane’s 62 other passengers and crewmembers before he walked down the airstairs and into custody without further incident.