Man asked for selfie with terrorist plane hijacker

A Brit has spoken out and explained himself after posing for a picture next to an alleged plane hijacker.

In 2016, an Egyptair flight - number MS181 - flying from HBE Airport, Alexandria to Cairo Airport was hijacked by a man who appeared to be wearing a suicide belt.

There were 56 passengers on board, alongside several members of crew and one member of the airline's security, and when the flight was diverted and landed safely at Larnaca airport, Cyprus, all but four passengers were initially released - the flight crew remained onboard too.

One of the passengers kept hostage by the alleged hijacker - named by Cypriot officials as Seif Eldin Mustafa - was British man Ben Innes, who decided to get a photograph taken with him. But why?

Innes - a health and safety auditor in the oil industry living in Aberdeen, who was 26 at the time of the incident - was onboard the plane for five hours alongside the three other passengers and flight crew after the plane landed at Larnaca - Mustafa reportedly having diverted the plane to see his ex-wife who lived in Cyprus.

During that time, while negotiations were underway between officials and the alleged hijacker, Innes decided to get a photograph with Mustafa which later went viral.

His motive? Not because he particularly wanted to commemorate the moment or was a fan of the person he asked to take a photograph with, but partly because he wanted 'a chance to get a closer look' at the supposed explosive device.

Ben Innes from #Aberdeen poses for a picture with #EgyptAir #MS181 hijacker. pic.twitter.com/ywdGYuDWwm

— Paul Smith (@Journo_Paul) March 29, 2016

In an interview with The Sun (via CBS), Innes admitted he's not completely 'sure why [he] did it'.

The Brit continued: "After about half an hour at Larnaca I asked for a photo with him as we were sitting around waiting. I thought, why not?

"[...] I just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity. I figured if his bomb was real I’d nothing to lose anyway, so took a chance to get a closer look at it."

Innes explained he got one of the cabin crew to translate for him to ask the alleged hijacker if he could take a selfie.

"He just shrugged OK, so I stood by him and smiled for the camera while a stewardess did the snap," Innes says. "It has to be the best selfie ever."

Mustafa is reported as having surrendered to authorities after the five-hour stand-off.

The alleged hijacker's suicide belt was found to be fake and the president of Cyprus resolved it was not a terrorist incident despite Mustafa's motives remaining unknown.