British Passenger Takes Selfie With Plane Hijacker
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LONDON, England (CBSMiami) -- A British passenger, who took a selfie with a man attempting to hijack a plane, says he just wanted a closer look at the bomb.
Scotland resident Ben Innes was aboard an EgyptAir flight Tuesday when it was taken over by a man police described as "unstable," using a fake suicide vest to force the plane to divert to the island country of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
Our flight MS181 is officially hijacked. we'll publish an official statement now. #Egyptair
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
On deciding to snap the photo, Innes told the media he wanted to take "the selfie of a lifetime."
"I'm not sure why I did it, 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," he said to The Guardian.
Innes said he got a crew member to translate to the hijacker and ask for the selfie -- to which the man shrugged and said OK.
The bomb turned out to be fake and the plane's passengers and crew were eventually released unharmed.
The hijacker, Seif Eddin Mustafa, was arrested after reportedly making several demands to authorities, including wanting to speak to his ex-wife.
