Foreigners, crew held on hijacked Egyptian plane after others freed

The hijacker of an Egyptair domestic flight from Alexandria to Cairo has reportedly released all the passengers after an emergency landing early Tuesday at Larnaca, Cyprus, except for an unconfirmed 4-20 foreigners and the crew. Egyptian sources say that the 80 passengers and crew included an unknown number of Britons and Americans. A lone hijacker was reported to have forced the pilot to divert the plane to Cyprus claiming he was strapped to an explosive suicide vest.  strapped to an explosive suicide vest. The pilot said he was forced to divert to Cyprus by a hijacker with a bomb.
Negotiations have begun with the hijacker to find out his motive. According to some reports he has asked for political asylum. Others suggest he may be a Libyan.
The Egyptians have set up an emergency situation room to deal with the hijacking crisis which occurred six months after a Russian airliner was downed over Sinai with more than 200 dead.