EgyptAir passengers return home, received by Prime Minister

Passengers and crewmembers of EgyptAir domestic flight hijacked early on Tuesday morning, have returned to Egypt.

The plane landed in Cairo International Airport on Tuesday night after which the passengers were received by the Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

The passengers did not hesitate to describe the hijacker who seemed to be mentally unstable just after landing.

EgyptAir hijacking: Passengers and crew overjoyed to arrive safely in Cairo https://t.co/jGHOX0×5Ed

— Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) March 30, 2016

“He speak with them. So the two hours, the three hours until I was gone, I was in the aircraft so you can talk with him. He was very easy. He told nothing will happen so after that he let us go,” said Hirp Helters, a Dutch passenger.

“Because he kept the foreigners and this guy was so cool, he is a British guy and he asked him to take a picture and he took the picture, that’s it,” said passenger Noha Saleh.

EgyptAir’s official twitter handled posted a tweet of when the passengers and crew arrived back in Cairo.

صور من استقبال الركاب وطاقم الطائرة في مطار القاهرة. pic.twitter.com/MHdUi1BUyV

— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016

Eighty-one people, including 21 foreigners and 15 crew, were on board the Airbus 320, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement.

It further stated that the hijacker had surrendered to the police and is in the process of interrogation.

Conflicting information emerged about the motive of the hijacker as some pointed out that the man was mentally unstable and that his actions were not related to terrorism.

According to Reuters, a Cypriot state broadcaster said he had demanded the release of women prisoners in Egypt.