An EgyptAir flight from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked by Seif El Din Mustafa on Tuesday morning March 29th 2016 and forced to land in Cyprus.

Flight MS181 took off from Alexandria's Burg Al-Arab airport and apparently diverted north shortly afterwards, landing in Cyprus's Larnaca airport just before 9am, according to local media.

According to a statement from EgyptAir around 10.45 local time, everyone except for seven members of the cabin crew and four non-Egyptian passengers were released from the plane.

At around 11.30am local time, Cyprus state media reported more people had been seen leaving the plane.

The head of Alexandria's Borg El Arab Airport told the BBC that eight Americans, four Britons, two Belgians, one Italian, four Dutch and 30 Egyptians were on board the flight.

The pilot of the plane was threatened by a passenger who had an explosive belt, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry initially said, but it was later reported that there were no explosives on board the plane.