THE man who took a picture with the EgyptAir hijacker while being held hostage has been identified as a 26-year-old British man from Leeds.
Ben Innes was one of four foreigners held hostage along with crew members during the six-hour ordeal at Cyrpus’ Larnaca airport.
Friends of Mr Innes have said they don’t know why he took the photo, but his mother says she doesn’t believe her son took the picture, reports The Mirror.
Pauline Innes said: “We don’t really want to comment on what has happened until he’s home and we know he’s safe and well.
“Obviously he’s not come home yet and there are security issues to think about — we don’t want to talk about anything until it has all been resolved.”
She added: “All we can say is that the picture is clearly not a selfie as everyone has been describing it.
“You can clearly see that it is not Ben who is taking the picture. He’s in it but he’s not taking it. But we don’t want to speak about anything until he’s back home.”
Mr Innes is believed to have approached hijacker Mustafa while being held hostage on the tarmac, and sent it to one of his flatmates as well as other friends.
“I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he’s no afraid to shy away from anything,” Mr Innes’ flatmate Chris Tundogan told MailOnline.
“I find it pretty mental but that’s just Ben I guess!”
Mustafa hijacked the domestic EgyptAir MS181, carrying 62 people, including eight Brits and ten Americans, shortly after it left Alexandria for Cairo early Tuesday morning.
Wearing a suicide belt, later found to have been fake, Mustafa forced the plane to re-route to Cyprus, where he proceeded to take several passengers and crew hostage and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife.
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