Police officers stand guards by the fence of the airport as a hijacked EgyptAir aircraft is seen after landing at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The EgyptAir plane was hijacked on... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers stand guards by the fence of the airport as a hijacked EgyptAir aircraft is seen after landing at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The EgyptAir plane was hijacked on Tuesday while flying from the Egyptian Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria to the capital, Cairo,... (Associated Press) 
 
 LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — An Egyptian man hijacked an EgyptAir plane Tuesday and forced it to land in Cyprus, where most passengers were eventually allowed to get off, though four crew members and three passengers remained on board with the hijacker, Egyptian and Cypriot officials said. 
 
 The man's motivation was unclear, but Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said the hijacking was "not something that has to do with terrorism" and a Cyprus government official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the man "seems (to be) in love." 
 
 A civil aviation official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to disclose details of ongoing negotiations, said the man gave negotiators the name of a woman who lives in Cyprus and asked to give her an envelope. It's unclear what relationship she and the man have. 
 
 Flight MS181 took off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria en route to Cairo with at least 55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and a seven-member crew. 
 
 An official with flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 said the plane showed no immediate signs of distress. The flight between Alexandria and Cairo normally takes about 30 minutes. 
 
 There was some confusion about the hijacker's identity. At a news conference in Cairo, Egypt's Civil Aviation minister, Sharif Fathi, refused to identify him. 
 
 Earlier, Egyptian government spokesman Hossam al-Queish said the hijacker was Ibrahim Samaha, but an Egyptian woman who identified herself as Samaha's wife said her husband is not the hijacker and was on his way to Cairo so he could fly to the U.S. to attend a conference. 
 
 The woman, who identified herself only as Nahla, told the Egyptian private TV network ONTV in a phone interview that her husband had never been to Cyprus and that a photo on Egyptian and regional TV channels that supposedly showed the hijacker was not him. Later, the official Middle East News Agency gave a different name for the hijacker. 
 
 Al-Queish, the government spokesman, also told the private CBC TV network that authorities could not confirm that the hijacker had explosives on him. An earlier statement from the Egyptian Aviation Ministry said the man claimed he had a belt with explosives. 
 
 The plane landed at the airport in the southern Cypriot city of Larnaca, also on the Mediterranean. A statement from the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry statement said the foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian. Three other foreigners could not be identified. Fathi did not give the nationalities of those who remained on the plane. 
 
 The incident raises more questions about security at Egyptian airports, five months after a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. 
 
 All 224 people on board were killed in the crash. Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft and the extremist Islamic State group took responsibility. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Hendawi reported from Cairo. Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report. ||||| Police officers stand guards by the fence of the airport as a hijacked EgyptAir aircraft is seen after landing at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The EgyptAir plane was hijacked on... (Associated Press) 
 
 LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — A man described as "psychologically unstable" hijacked a flight Tuesday from Egypt to Cyprus and threatened to blow it up. His explosives turned out to be fake, and he surrendered with all passengers released unharmed after a bizarre six-hour standoff. 
 
 As more became known about the motive of the 59-year-old Egyptian who was taken into custody, authorities characterized the commandeering of the EgyptAir jetliner not as an act of terrorism but more like a "family feud" with his former wife. 
 
 The aviation drama ended peacefully on the tarmac of Larnaca airport on the island nation's southern coast with the surrender of a man identified by Cypriot and Egyptian authorities as Seif Eddin Mustafa. 
 
 The incident was likely to renew concerns about Egyptian airport security months after a Russian passenger plane was blown out of the sky over the Sinai Peninsula in a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group. 
 
 But Egyptian officials stressed that their security measures were not to blame, and there was praise for the EgyptAir flight crew. Pilot Amr Gamal told The Associated Press: "We rescued all the people and the man got arrested." 
 
 EgyptAir Flight 181 took off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria for a 30-minute hop to Cairo with at least 72 people aboard, Cyprus police said, including about two dozen foreigners. 
 
 At some point, the hijacker claimed to have explosives in his belt and forced the pilot to fly the Airbus 320 to Cyprus, Egyptian authorities said. 
 
 Egyptian passenger Farah el-Dabani told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiyah TV network that the hijacker was seated in the back of the aircraft and that it was the crew who told passengers that the plane was being hijacked. 
 
 "There was panic at the beginning, but the crew told us to be quiet. They did a good job to keep us all quiet so the hijacker does not do anything rash," she said in a telephone interview. 
 
 After the jet landed in Larnaca about 9 a.m., the hijacker asked to speak to his Cypriot ex-wife, who was brought to the airport, and he sent out a letter from the aircraft to give to her, said Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides. 
 
 The foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said. The nationalities of three other foreigners could not be determined immediately. 
 
 Most of the passengers were freed, and they calmly walked down a set of stairs from the plane, carrying their hand luggage and boarding a bus. But he kept on board seven people: four members of the flight crew and three passengers. 
 
 Mustafa later asked to speak to European Union representatives, and among his demands were the release of female inmates held in Egyptian prisons. 
 
 "It was one demand he made, then dropped it and made another," Kasoulides said. "His demands made no sense or were too incoherent to be taken seriously." 
 
 From the start, "it was clear that this wasn't an act of terrorism," he added. 
 
 "Despite the fact that the individual appeared to be dangerous in terms of his behavior, we understood that this was a psychologically unstable person," he said. 
 
 Hussein Abdelkarim Tantaway Mubarak, Egypt's ambassador to Cyprus, said the whole affair "looks like it was a family feud." 
 
 "As far as I know, I think he has a family problem, probably with members of his family, probably his ex-wife or something," Mubarak added. 
 
 A Cypriot police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give out details of the investigation said the hijacker and his wife were divorced in 1994, and the couple had four children. 
 
 The hijacker eventually realized there was "no chance" any of his demands would be met, Kasoulides said, and he left the plane, where he was immediately arrested by anti-terrorism police. The belt of explosives turned out to be "telephone cases" made to look like they were explosives. 
 
 Just minutes before the arrest, several people were seen also getting off the aircraft, and a crew member — later identified as Ahmed el-Qaddah — climbed out of the cockpit window and slid down the side of the plane in accordance with his training for such emergencies. 
 
 Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said the hijacking was "not something that has to do with terrorism." 
 
 Anastasiades, appearing alongside European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Nicosia, was asked by reporters whether he could confirm that the incident was about a woman. "Always, there is a woman," he replied, drawing laughter. 
 
 But the mood aboard the hijacked aircraft was anything but light-hearted. 
 
 A veiled female passenger told Egyptian TV upon arrival back in Cairo: "We were terrified but cooperating." 
 
 The woman, who was not identified, said she thought the explosives had been real. 
 
 "I felt like the man can just press the button, and we will be gone," she said. 
 
 A middle-aged male passenger who also didn't identify himself told the broadcaster, "The situation was very hard, more than anyone can imagine." He also praised the flight crew, saying they "were like a psychiatrists to the hijacker." 
 
 The flight crew and passengers who returned to Cairo on Tuesday night broke into tears while hugging and kissing their waiting families. 
 
 Mustafa is to appear in court Wednesday, where authorities will ask that he be held on a number of unspecified charges, said police spokesman Andreas Angelides. 
 
 Mubarak said "it's amazing" how the hijacker managed to convince passengers and crew that he had a belt of explosives strapped to him when he actually had no weapons. 
 
 Police in Cairo questioned Mustafa's relatives, said Sharif Faisal, the police chief for the industrial suburb of Helwan. 
 
 Islam Magdy, a taxi driver who lives in the same five-story house as Mustafa's sister, described him as "a mysterious person," with police inquiring about him. 
 
 Egypt's Interior Ministry released surveillance video that it said showed Mustafa being thoroughly searched at the Alexandria airport. It said his hand luggage held items that he later used to "give the impression that he is wearing an explosive belt." 
 
 Aviation expert Philip Baum said the EgyptAir crew "seems to have responded to this incident in an exemplary fashion." 
 
 "The idea that the air crew should have taken steps to overpower the hijacker is, I believe, wrong," said Baum, author of "Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing." 
 
 Flight attendant Nihal el-Barqouqi played a role in convincing the hijacker to free the passengers once the plane landed in Cyprus, Egyptian TV reported. 
 
 "We managed with diplomacy ... to get the passengers out," co-pilot Ahmed el-Qaddah told the broadcaster. 
 
 Security at Egyptian airports has been under scrutiny since the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian jetliner in the Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Petersburg, Russia. All 224 people on board were killed. 
 
 Russia later said a bomb brought down the aircraft, and the Islamic State group took responsibility. Russia suspended all air links to Egypt after the revelations about the bombing, dealing a major blow to the Egyptian tourism industry. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Hamza Hendawi, Mariam Mazen and Sam Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The suspect emerged from the plane and was later detained 
 
 A hijacking that diverted a domestic Egyptian flight to Cyprus has ended with all hostages released and the hijacker surrendering. 
 
 EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide explosive belt. 
 
 Airline officials later said they had been told by Cypriot authorities that the belt was fake. 
 
 The hijacker's motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism-related. 
 
 No-one was injured in the hijacking, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodulides tweeted. 
 
 How the hijacking unfolded 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption A man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraft 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Cypriot security services were waiting for him 
 
 After a morning of tension, the hijacker was seen walking down aircraft steps at Larnaca airport with his hands raised. 
 
 Some reports said the Egyptian man - named by Cypriot officials as Seif Eldin Mustafa - wanted to talk to his estranged Cypriot wife who lives on the Mediterranean island, while others said he was seeking the release of female prisoners in Egypt. 
 
 Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner 
 
 Image copyright Reuters 
 
 It is only some small comfort that the man who hijacked Egyptair flight MS181 was bluffing. The bulging white "suicide belt" with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake. 
 
 It at least means that this time Egypt cannot be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport, destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid-air. 
 
 But it still triggers a number of worrying questions about aviation security. 
 
 How was it that a passenger, described by the Cypriot authorities as "mentally unstable" was able to carry enough materials through Alexandria airport to resemble a bomb? 
 
 And what is to stop any future airline passenger, similarly unarmed, from pretending that he or she has a real device strapped to them? 
 
 For Egypt's battered tourism industry, that has yet to recover from the October airline bombing, this hijack is a further blow it can ill afford. 
 
 The hijacker's surrender came shortly after several people were seen fleeing the aircraft. One - apparently a crew member - escaped by climbing out of the aircraft's cockpit window. 
 
 Throughout the morning, people had been seen leaving the aircraft after appearing to have been released. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A man was seen fleeing from a cockpit window shortly before the hijacker surrendered 
 
 Local media reports said the hijacker had handed over a four-page letter in Arabic after the plane landed at Larnaca on Tuesday morning, and that later a woman thought to be his wife had arrived at the airport. 
 
 Earlier, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter's question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: "Always there is a woman involved." 
 
 Egypt airport security 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty 
 
 Video posted by Egypt's Interior Ministry on its Facebook page shows the suspected hijacker passing through airport security in Alexandria. 
 
 Egypt says it has taken steps to improve safety after Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown up over Sinai last October: 
 
 British consultancy Control Risks to review security at Cairo, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam airports 
 
 $1bn a year to upgrade airport security 
 
 Increased and more thorough checks 
 
 Despite this, the BBC's Youssef Taha says checks remain patchy and inconsistent: 
 
 Many VIPs refuse to be searched and MPs claim immunity 
 
 Airport and airline staff do not usually go through full screening 
 
 EgyptAir said the Airbus A320 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official. It had initially said 81 passengers were on board. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades: "Always there is a woman involved" 
 
 A statement from Egypt's civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian. 
 
 Larnaca airport, on the south coast of Cyprus, has been closed and scheduled flights diverted elsewhere.
– An EgyptAir plane with about 60 people aboard was hijacked Tuesday while flying from the coastal city of Alexandria to Cairo, and then forced to land in Cyprus, reports the AP. Fortunately, it appears to have ended without violence after hours of negotiations, with all aboard freed and the hijacker arrested. Details were still emerging about his motivation, but Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades previously said it was "not something that has to do with terrorism," reports the AP, and a Cyprus government official said the man "seems (to be) in love." A civil aviation official said the man gave negotiators the name of a woman who lives in Cyprus and asked to give her an envelope. It's unclear what relationship she and the man have, but some reports say she is his estranged wife. Asked whether the hijacking involved romance, the Cyprian president laughed and said, "Always, there is a woman involved." However, much confusion surrounded the incident, with the BBC citing reports that he had asked for the release of female prisoners in Egypt. There was also some confusion about the identity of the hijacker, who reportedly claimed to have explosives on him and had allowed most of the passengers to leave the plane upon landing. At a news conference prior to the arrest, Egypt's Civil Aviation minister refused to identify him. Earlier, an Egyptian government spokesman offered up a name, but an Egyptian woman who identified herself as his wife said her husband is not the hijacker and was on his way to Cairo so he could fly to the US to attend a conference. Flight MS181 took off from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria with at least 55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and a seven-member crew.