For reasons not entirely clear, a seemingly jovial hostage reportedly took the time to grab a quick photo with his captor on Tuesday during an hours-long hijacking situation in Cyprus. After taking off from Alexandria, EgyptAir flight MS181 was hijacked by a man named Seif Eldin Mustafa wearing a fake explosives belt. However, as friends of alleged hostage Ben Innes told the Daily Mail, none of that was enough to stop their friend from grabbing a quick photo with the hijacker:
"I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he's not afraid to shy away from anything," Chris Tundogan, Innes' roommate, told the Mail. According to Tundogan, "that's just Ben." Innes, a 26-year-old British guy with an apparent penchant for this sort of thing, also texted his pals to brag about the photo by promptly reminding them that he does not "fuck about" when it comes to traveling:
Innes is believed to have been one of the last of the 62 passengers to be allowed to exit the hijacked aircraft, followed shortly after by Mustafa surrendering to authorities. Local authorities are not considering the hijacking a terrorism-related incident. "He's not a terrorist," a Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs official said in a statement. "He's an idiot." According to a report from the Guardian, another picture that aired on Egyptian TV is believed to show Mustafa in the same location with "part of what appears to be a different man beside him," suggesting that this particular photo—though head-turning in its ridiculousness—may not have been the only one.
