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Hijacked EgyptAir Flight Lands In Cyprus; Of 81 Passengers Only A Few Passengers And Crew Still Onboard; Egypt Says Egyptian Citizen Seif El Din Mustafa Hijacked Plane Over His Ex-Wife, Not Terrorism- Related. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 29, 2016 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00] ALAA YOUSEF, SPOKESMAN FOR EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT SISI (through translator): The subject regarding nationalities -- there are some things which we cannot answer for security reasons because with security services are conducting and they're doing their jobs and we will want to leave them finish their work and afterward we will have all the details.

I cannot mention names. Anything I've said today I'm responsible for it, and I bear responsibility for that for what I've just said. I would like to maintain what I've said because you will see more surprises. So what is the importance? Can we just concentrate, please?

Allow us to concentrate on the safety of the people who are there and let the negotiators to deal with this subject because mentioning names and making announcements -- this is not official announcement and this is not for the interest of the work that's being carried out now by the negotiators.

There are many things which happened. Every security section, they will have to confirm section by section. You know, say for example, somebody suspicious -- obviously we have to investigate him first. I'd like to hear one by one. Please allow one at a time. This is not my decision. This decision is going to be taken by the negotiators. What do I see fit? The security services.

I do have the nationalities exactly who were aboard the plane, but I do not actual talk about it. If you're talking about the security procedure at the Alexandria airport, we don't know yet how he got to -- how they call it -- get the equipment he has, and we don't know whether the equipment is true or real or not. And this will come as an outcome of the investigation, but --

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: OK, you've been following a news conference there from Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. That's his spokesman there saying that there are still seven people still onboard. He's also saying that he's not sure if the explosive belt that the hijacker is wearing actually has explosives but he is considering it to be real.

The seven people on board -- they include the crew, which include a security officer and three passengers he is not naming the nationalities of those three passengers. I think we have Ian Lee -- I think we have Ian Lee with us now. Ian, what else are you learning?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Ian, clear up for us a little, too, the name and the identity of the hijacker. There's been some confusion this morning from officials about just who was responsible for hijacking this plane. What are we learning now? Clarify that information for us.

IAN LEE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. There has been a lot of confusion with a lot of details about this, but what we're hearing now from the presidency spokesman is that the name of this person is not Ibrahim Samaha. That it is a different person by the name Seif El Din Mustafa, an Egyptian national. This is what we're learning. Everything else, though, we've heard up to this point that Cypriot officials say that this is not terrorism-related and that this person -- the motivation behind this has to deal with an ex-wife.

[05:35:00] We're also hearing from some Egyptian officials saying that they are skeptical that this is an actual explosive belt but they aren't taking any chances with this. Negotiations are underway but we are -- this is a sensitive security situation.

I just got off the phone with another Egyptian official. They say that they want it to end peacefully. That no one, including the hijacker, to be harmed. And they said that they aren't going to release a lot of information until this situation is resolved because they do not want to jeopardize the ongoing negotiations.

KOSIK: Ian, speaking of those negotiations, how exactly are they taking place? Are they taking place via phone or is there actually a negotiator onboard right now talking with this hijacker?

LEE: We really do not know the details of exactly how it's taking place. From what we've been watching over the course of this morning, though, it is more likely that this is not being takingplace face-to- face negotiations. That the negotiation is taking place over the telephone. But details have been pretty sparse on the exact situation around the plane right now -- the security situation. Officials do not want to tip off the hijacker to whatever is going on, so they have kept us somewhat in the dark about that.

ROMANS: And we can understand why, of course. No one would want to jeopardize any of those negotiations going on or the safety and well- being of the people on that flight. We know there are seven people on that plane right now. We know that three of them are passengers, although officials there -- you just heard in that press conference -- declining pretty emphatically to tell us the nationalities of those three passengers.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

You're watching tape right now of people leaving the plane. We know that authorities are sending a new plane to Cyprus to pick up these passengers who were bound for Cairo, and get those who have been released from the plane -- to get them to their destination.

Again, Ian, I think the headline here is that there was some initial confusion coming from a spokesman for the Egyptian president's office about the identity of this hijacker. Not a dual American-Egyptian citizen, but now an Egyptian citizen. The name is different but it's still -- they're thinking the same motive. Not terrorism -- some sort of a personal problem.

LEE: That's exactly right, and this morning there has been a lot of information that has changed initially. They were saying that there was four foreigners who were left onboard, and then it was five, and that has been changing as well.

It's been a very fluid situation but right now we can confirm that according to the spokesman of the Egyptian presidency, Alaa Yousef, saying that this person is an Egyptian national, not a dual national, and the name of the person is Seif El Din Mustafa. Now that all coming from the Egyptian president's spokesman.

But again, a very fluid situation. Those people who have been released will be coming back to Cairo. And a lot of people may be wondering why this plane that took off from Alexandria here in Egypt landed in Larnaca. Well, that's -- we are being told that's when the hijacker informed the pilot that he wanted to -- or that he was hijacking the plane.

He insisted that he go to somewhere in Europe -- Istanbul was named, as well, but the pilot saying that they did not have enough fuel to go to any of those destinations. That Larnaca was the closest option for them and that's why the plane landed there.

Egyptian officials are also looking into, right now -- this hijacker claims he has an explosive belt on him so how did that person get on board that plane. I've been through this airport a number of times. There are different levels of security.

They go through your check-in bag as well as your carry-on baggage. When you go through the metal detector -- almost every time they pat you down, so was this alleged bomb on the person at the time? Was it in his carry-on luggage? These are things that Egyptian officials will be looking into right now, although one official doubted that it was an actual bomb although, again, they're not taking any chances.

[05:40:00] KOSIK: Ian, let me ask you this. The hijacker -- obviously besides making the demand to have the plane go somewhere, what other demands do you know that he was making? Perhaps were there political demands, simply because at first you saw those passengers walk off. It was being reported that they were Egyptians and that the non-Egyptian passengers were being left on.

It also strikes me as interesting to see how calm. (Video playing) If we can go to that video -- how seemingly calm those passengers look as they're walking away from that aircraft. Not only are they walking away but they've got their baggage in their hand, so it makes you think that maybe how it was onboard wasn't as tense for those passengers if they actually were able to grab a bag or two before they got off that flight.

LEE: I think you're exactly right. It does speak volumes to the tense situation. You're not seeing these people running off the plane ducking, and they do have their luggage with them. It could be -- the reason -- I mean, we really don't know the motivation behind this, but from everything we're piecing together it appears more to be that the people onboard are still just bargaining chips. That this person has some demands.

It seems to be some sort of domestic demands dealing with an ex-wife, but what those demands are we really don't know. The Egyptian officials have been fairly tight-lipped.Cypriot officials saying that it does deal with the ex-wife, that it is not terrorism, so the reason to keep foreigners onboard maybe gives him a bit more leverage than he normally would have. But, really, a lot of the motivation is speculation at this time.

ROMANS: Ian Lee, thanks for that. We'll let you get back to covering the rapidly developing details in this story.

Joining us now, aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas. He's the editor-in- chief and managing director or airlineratings.com, and Afzal Ashraf, consultant fellow at Royal United Services Institute, live in our London bureau. Thank you so much.

Let me start with you, Geoffrey, and just talk a little bit about what you're learning here now. Some confusion about who hijacked this plane, although it sounds from authorities is that the motive is not terrorism. This is some sort of a personal issue -- some sort of an issue. He's asked to speak to his ex-wife. He claims to be wearing a suicide vest.

GEOFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/MANAGING DIRECTOR, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: Look, indeed, it's getting more bizarre as it rolls out, although nonetheless terrifying for everybody involved, and there's two elements to this. While the motive of this particular hijacker may be simply a domestic situation with his ex-wife, though Iunderstand it's unconfirmed that she's also -- that she is a Cypriot, but that's yet to be confirmed.

But, at the same time, this also flags how easy it is to hijack an airplane with the threat of a suicide bomb scenario. This sends a chilling message to would-be terrorists across the globe of how simple it is to get on board and say guess what? I've got a bomb and this is what I want to do or this is where I want to go. This is a chilling development, regardless of the motives of this particular hijacker.

KOSIK: Afzal, let me ask you this. We heard from President Sisi's spokesperson that there's a security officer who still remains onboard -- one of the seven who are still onboard this aircraft. What do you think could have happened inside this plane that allowed the hijacker -- this is a security official. How did the hijacker get access to the pilot when there's an actual security official onboard?

AFZAL ASHRAF, CONSULTANT FELLOW AT RUSI: Well, we don't know the answer to that. I think that it may well be that all he had to do was to tell the cabin crew that he had a bomb and that he wanted to speak to the pilot, and if he wasn't allowed access then he would explode. And I think it may be that given that scenario the security officials,

and the cabin crew, and the air crew all decided that the best way to deal with this situation was to indulge the individual rather than risk him doing something that would result in the loss of the aircraft and all people onboard.

So, it does seem that whatever happened -- and we don't know the details of exactly what happened -- has been handled really rather well so far. What we have is an aircraft that has landed safely in Larnaca. We've had the vast majority of the passengers allowed off which is, again, a very significant success in any hijacking negotiation.

[05:45:00] And it seems that the negotiations are continuing with this individual. And, of course, the more you spend time negotiating with these people the better it is for a successful outcome.So I think that -- whilst we don't have the details, I think what we should reassure ourselves with is that so far this whole affair has been handled rather well.

ROMANS: Mr. Ashraf, I think that's a very good point that we've seen people safely and calming walk off of that plane. We know that there are seven people still onboard that plane, including three passengers. We don't know the nationalities of those passengers.

Mr. Ashraf, it's interesting because in the 20th century -- the latter part of the 20th century -- hijackings for political purposes or from people who were having personal problems or mental health problems, or terrorism, quite frankly -- hijacking planes were much more common. Now you have, in this particular case, the threat, at least -- the threat or the claim of a suicide belt and a hijacking. That has a very 21st century fingerprint to it.

ASHRAF: It does. We had a spade of hijackings in the 70's and the 80's in the last century, but the hijackings have tended to become few and far between, certainly after 9-11 where those hijackings took on a very different turn.

I think that we will, obviously, find out a great deal more in the hours and days to come about this particular scenario, and it may well be that this individual has bluffed his way onto the aircraft and he hasn't actually got the wherewithal to conduct a serious hijack.

But I think it's absolutely right that the authorities are dealing with this seriously, they're dealing with professionally, and are negotiating with him to ensure that the threat he poses reduces significantly as time goes on. It already has very significantly, and I'm sure the next step we will hear is that, hopefully, even more freeing of hostages and crew.

And, of course, it does sound as though, according to some reports, that they have brought in his ex-wife and maybe other members of his family and friends to speak with him. It does seem like this man has got some sort of emotional issues and I think that they will be using psychologists to try and manage those, along with the negotiators. KOSIK: And it is a relief that most of the passengers are off that plane -- seven still onboard -- not terrorism-related. Afzal Ashraf, Geoffrey Thomas, thanks so much for your analysis today. We've got more breaking news about this hijacking right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:00] KOSIK: Breaking news. Most of the passengers have been released from an EgyptAir flight diverted and safely on the ground now in Cyprus. Flight MS181 had been on its way from Alexandria, Egypt to Cairo, with at least 81 people on board when the pilot radioed that a passenger claimed to have an explosive belt. The hijacker -- he's an Egyptian national. We now know his name. It's Seif El Din Mustafa.

EgyptAir says negotiations with the hijacker actually led to the release of all but three passengers and four crew members who, right now, remain on that plane. The Egyptian Air Ministry says there were eight Americans on board but at this point we do not know if any of them are among those still being held on that aircraft.

Let's get a different perspective from Philip Baum. He joins us on the phone. He's the editor of Aviation Security International and managing director of Green Light Security. Also, the author of Violence in the Skies. Good morning to you.

PHILIP BAUM, EDITOR, AVIATION SECURITY INTERNATIONAL: Good morning.

KOSIK: And clearly, security is your forte, so let me ask you this. There is some doubt whether or not this hijacker actually has explosives on that belt, but they are considering it to be a real threat. Nevertheless, if he does not have explosives is there anything that airline officials could have noticed about him before he got on the flight because, obviously, if he does not have those explosives on, he wouldn't go off at any kind of security metal detector.

Is there anything that airline officials or security officials at the airport could have noticed about him or maybe looked at passengers and been able to predict that something like this could have happened?

BAUM: Well, time will tell. I feel a little bit like a broken record on this, but I have been arguing pretty much all of my professional life for the deployment of profiling techniques based on behavioral analysis. And it doesn't matter whether you're looking for suicide bombers that are entering airport check-in halls in the likes of Brussels, or a suicidal pilot as with Germanwings or, indeed, as we seem to be seeing today, an individual that is prepared to hijack an aircraft.

I think the best security technique that we can deploy at airports worldwide and, indeed, onboard airlines is behavioral analysis. This incident really sort of takes you back 10 years and it seems to be remarkably similar to a Turkish Airlines hijacking when an individual called Hakan Ekinci hijacked an aircraft going from Tirana, Albania to Istanbul. He claimed to have explosives -- ROMANS: All right, Philip Baum, we have to leave it there. We're going to get back to you in just a moment, we hope. But we're looking at these pictures here of what's happening on the tarmac. You're seeing the map there of where this diversion happened. Passengers held still on that hijacked plane in Cyprus. "NEW DAY" picking up the story right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Tuesday, March 29th, 6:00 in the East. Chris is off this morning. Don Lemon joins us. Great to have you.

We do begin with breaking news for you. There is a hostage situation at this hour in Cyprus. A man claiming to have an explosive belt hijacked an EgyptAir flight with more than 80 passengers and crew onboard.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what the official in Cyprus is saying. That the suspect is, indeed, an Egyptian national who hijacked the plane over his ex-wife. Seven people are said to still be onboard that plane. The incident raising serious questions, once again, about airport security overseas.

We're going to begin our international coverage this morning with CNN's Ian Lee, joining us now live from Cairo. What's the latest, Ian?