A policeman stands guard at Larnaca Airport near a hijacked Egyptair A320Yiannis Kourtoglou/ Reuters
Police in at Larnaca airport in Cyprus have arrested a hijacker who took control of Egyptair flight MS181 en route to Cairo from Alexandria.
All 81 passengers including four foreign nationals and crew members, held for several hours as hostages, are free and safe.
At the conclusion of the stand off four individuals fled the plane before the hijacker gave himself up.
Cypriot authorities have identified the hijacker as Seif el-Din Mustafa, an Egyptian national.
Mustafa told crew on the plane he had a bomb; it later emerged the device he was later shown wearing in pictures was a fake.
Egypt's civil aviation minister has said investigations will be made into the hijacking and whether or not security measures failed.
Map showing the route of diverted flight MS181 after its hijacking while en route to CairoIBTimes UK 17 hr 15:51
This concludes IBTimes UK's live coverage of the Larnaca hostage crisis. For the latest new on this issue, click here.
18 hr 15:01
The British Foreign Office has confirmed in statement that British nationals were caught up in today's hijacking events and added it is giving consular assistance.
"We are relieved that the situation at Larnaca Airport has now come to a safe conclusion. We are providing consular support to British Nationals caught up in today's events," the government ministry said in statement.
"We remain in close contact with the Cypriot and Egyptian authorities," it added.
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