welcome to our viewers here in the united states and those of you watching from around the world. i'm errol barnett, and we have breaking news for you this hour. a hijacked egyptair flight has landed at larnaca airport in cyprus. it was en route from al ex-and dree yeah to cairo. the pilot was threatened by a single hijacker strapped with a suicide belt. who that person is and the current status of passengers is unclear. all of this breaking within the past hour. let's bring in our ian lee who joins us from cairo for more.

you have been to the alexandria airport where this originated. you've mentioned the intense security. how could or would someone be able to get through it with an explosive belt, what do you know? >> caller: that's right. this airport, when i traveled through it last, it had three layers of security. you could say you go in. the first thing they do is they scan your bags, you go through a metal detector. and then that's even before you check in. you check in. the bags are then taken away. and scanned again. and there are two other metal detectors that a passenger goes through. so the question is going to be how was someone able to take a, we're hearing, a suicide vest, a bomb strapped to this person on board the plane, how security was unable to see that, especially when your bags, your

carryon bags, especially, goes through two screening processes before even getting to the gate. so these are questions that are going to need to be answered. the real question, too, is how is the quality of the screeners? this has been a, been brought up a lot of times since the metro jet crashed leaving the airport, isis claimed responsibility for that, saying they planted a bomb on it. the question is, do the people who are looking at the bags really know what they're looking for? and right now we do have the situation where that egyptair plane, an a-320, with 83 people on board, it was hijacked leaving alexandria, diverted to larnaca. the pie hlot was the one who cad it in. not many details right now, but

this comes at a time when egypt's insisting to the outside world that it was safe to visit, that its airports were secure. this has been a criticism of egypt's president, and this indent is just going to add to that criticism. >> and the egyptian government likely scrambling to make sense of this as we are. i just want to show our viewers. in the interest of showing the immediacy of all of this, a recent tweet september out by egyptair. it was septembnt out 23 minutes. it says our flight ms 181 is officially hijacked. we'll publish an official statement now. we're all standing by for updated information. you mentioned that egypt is dealing with its own terrorist threats. the president acknowledging the russian jetliner was taken down via a terrorist act not too long ago. were there any threats of an act like this to come by, by any

groups in egypt? >> caller: well, there's always a threat that the airports would be targeted. but the egyptian government is fairly quiet about any sort of threat that it may face. so when incidents like this happen, they come as a surprise to many people. this tweet that you just read is something else that is, you know, egyptian officials typically have been fairly quiet when it came to these sorts of situations. they don't give out much information right away, but the egyptair tweeting this information out is showing a bit more transparency than we've seen in the past when it came to these sorts of situations. but we don't know the motivation behind this. could this have been isis carrying out? it very much could have been isis-related. or it could be another motivation behind this. these will be details we'll get

later in the day, hopefully, but the security situation in egypt, very much serious. you do have isis operating in the northern part of sinai. there has been a large military operation against them. hundreds of people have been killed, both military, police, as well as civilians in this battle. it has drawn, it has dragged out longer than many egyptians would have liked. the president came into power saying that he was going to secure the country. a lot of people asking, now, questioning if he's able to do that. >> ian lee is on the phone with us from cairo as we continue to get more information on this breaking story. if you're just joining us, we have confirmed that an egyptair flight with 81 people on board has been hijacked while it was on en route from alexandria to cairo. it's currently in cyprus.

the pilot has been in communication and has confirmed that one passenger on board threatened to detonate an explosive belt, and that was what led the flight to be diverted. as far as we know, there's been no evidence of that yet, but local police there in larnaca do confirm that this aircraft, ms 181 has been hijacked and is there at the airport. ian, i want to get back to you. because egypt is dealing with its own fight against terrorism, technically in the wake of that russian jetliner that was downed, but what about in the wake of what we've seen take place in brussels where an airport and metro station were targeted. has egypt changed their posture at all in a result of that attack and is the security as stepped up as it can be? >> caller: there haven't been any noticeable changes in security since the attack in brussels. there's always been a very heavy

security presence here in cairo. and in egypt. you have checkpoints everywhere, especially late at night. you have check points with men with ak 47s. there are police everywhere. so there was, there wasn't any real visible increase in security sense the brussels attack. but the question is going to be is how egypt, how the egyptian officials, how the intelligence really wasn't able to detect this. egypt has fairly good intelligence services, especially domestic intelligence. this is going to be a blow for them that they weren't able to detect this threat, and again, since el sisi came to power promising security, and we do see it since he took office on

the street. but the question is, is it just a veneer of security, or is it actual security? >> it's certainly an unnerving development. ian lee on the phone with us from cairo. we actually now want to bring in jeffrey thomas, he is the editor in chief of airline ratings.com and joins us via webcam from perth, australia. it is a very disturbing development, but what do you make of this airbus 320 being hijacked and currently sitting on the tarmac there in cyprus? >> look, it raises very disturbing questions. first of all, how, if this bomb, this explosive belt this hijacker has, if it is real -- it may well be that it is not real -- but if it is real, how

on earth did he get it on board. now as the previous caller was talking, the real question mark of egypt's airports after the metro jet crash and explosion is what about an inside job. and it's fairly well understood that the metro jet was an inside job. and this may well be the same thing. that this explosive belt was smuggled on board this aircraft, ahead of its departure. and this is something that raises serious questions about the security, screening of the employees at egypt's airports. and other airports for that matter. >> now the aviation ministry is telling us that the pilot has reported, we're showing our viewers now the first image we're getting of this egyptair flight as it sits on the runway there at larnaca airport. but jeffrey, this passenger, the pilot reports that the passenger

claimed to have a suicide belt. we don't have any proof of that, no evidence. and you can understand, i mean, i would understand a pilot being cautious, but what is the protocol? what are pilots supposed to do when a threat like this is made? >> that's a very good question, errol. and we install these securities, these high-impact explosive resilient doors on all the aircraft of after the terrible tragedies of 9/11. and the whole scenario was that pilots would never open those doors, but in this particular case, with a hijacker on a suicide mission says i'm either going to blow this airplane up or divert. and open the door, well the pilot sort of says, okay, we know what suicide missions are all about these days. they don't really care, and, you know, my plane will be blown up

regardless, i take my chances with the hijack scenario and go to larnaca. i think i'd take the latter, as this pilot has done, and i think most pilots would do exactly the same. you'd want to try and maximize every possibility that you could save your passengers and crew, not to mention yourself in this, in these sorts of scenarios. so this opens a whole new disturbing development when it comes to hijackings. and viewers would, may remember that back in the '60s, '70s and '80s, there were hijackings all the time, and it was a very difficult problem for the aviation ministry. >> on that point, it's much more rare these days. and even in egypt, its most recent experience with terror e and aircraft as we've described is that something is smuggled

onboard. and suicide bombers willing to kill themselves for a cause. all of this information just coming in to us. the pilot saying he diverted the flight because a person claimed to have a suicide belt, and he's being cautious, but if this is all true and accurate, we would then assume that there are some kind of aims to diverting a flight like this. ian lee telling us it's likely local egyptians on this plane rather than international travelers. what would that suggest to you? >> well, it's very difficult to actually analyze this sort of incident and let's home it just stays as an incidenincident. >> yeah. >> because it's very difficult to get into the minds of these suicide bombers. these suicide bombers add a totally new dimension to security, whether it's at an airport like we saw in brussels or in istanbul or anywhere elsewhere they've detonated

these explosives and killed themself the. it's extremely difficult to stop them, it's extremely difficult to understand the logic of what they're trying to achieve. it makes no sense to us. and of course to security agencies, it's almost an impossible situation. as i explained, a pilot faced with the prospect i'm going to blow your plane up or divert to larnaca. i would divert to larnaca as this pilot has done. this is a very hard situation to actually fathom. >> now we just getting all this information to us. jeffrey, fair point that you make, but as far as ian lee has been telling us, that president el sisi has made security one of his platforms, particularly in the wake of other terrorist attacks. is the aviation industry itself convinced that egyptian airports and their flights are safe? >> no, not at all.

i think that egypt would be on, well down the list as far as confidence in their security systems. it's a country in turmoil. i know that the politicians come to power on various mandates. i think it's more rhetoric than substance. and quite frankly, personally, i wouldn't travel in egypt at all. i don't have any faith in their security systems whatsoever. >> jeffrey thomas with airline ratings.com, joining us from perth, australia. we appreciate your opinions there. for those of you just joining us, we're covering this breaking new story. an egyptair flight has been diverted to cyprus from alexandria. you see it on the left of your screen, it is sitting on the larnaca runway. we're still trying to get

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continuing now with our breaking news here at cnn, you are looking at live pictures, i understand, as they're being broadcast to us from cyprus. where a hijacked egyptair flight number ms 181 has landed. currently it is at the larnaca airport there. the plane is an airbus 320. it was en route from alexandria to cairo. it is reported that some 30 to 40 passengers have been released. so we're still trying to get confirmation of that. all of this coming in to cnn by the minute. egypt's civil aviation industry says meanwhile that the pilot was forced to divert the plane by a single hijacker with a suicide belt. some passengers, though, have been freed, ranging from 30 to 40, a precise number not clear yet. we want to bring in ian lee who

joins us live from cairo as we cover all of this. it's still a breaking story. we don't know who the hijacker may be, but bring us up to date on any new information you've been able to gather. >> reporter: well, we're seeing right now on egypt's air's official twitter account, saying that negotiations are under way with the hijacker. that resulted in all the egyptian passengers being released, except for the cabin crew and foreigners. now unsure how many foreigners that is at this moment. that are on that plane. but what egyptair is tweeting right now is that all the egyptian passengers have been able to make it off safely, that these negotiations are currently taking place. and, as we've been talking about over the past hour, we really

don't know. this hijacker claims to have a bomb on board this plane. we do not know if that is a real bomb or if they're claiming to have a bomb. although the situation is being taken very seriously. we do not know how this person was able to bring on this bomb on board this plane. if you look back at that metro jet bombing that took place here in egypt last october, it appears to have been an inside job. so that's going to be something that egyptian officials are going to be looking at, are who are the people working at the airport, and checking if any of them could have had any connection to this. all still very much just new information coming to us at this moment. but egyptian officials saying that, again, the pilot diverted this plane to larnaca, was able to land. when we have seen isis operate in the past, they tend to go on

suicide missions. so i think it's still a bit early to say what the motivations behind this are. was this an isis attack? it's definitely not the m.o. of isis that we've seen in the past, but still the questions that we're going to be looking into. >> and ian, we don't know exactly who the hijacker may be affiliated with, if anyone. this is all such a recent, breaking story, but an important development that you mentioned, that the egyptian passengers have been released from the plane, however, the egyptair staff, and we understand some five foreigners, may still be on board. as you mentioned there, the hostage taker negotiates with officials. let's just again rewind to where this flight originated in alexandria. how could someone get through that airport with its security

in a climate in egypt like this, with an explosive belt? would you have to have help from the inside? how could that happen? >> reporter: it definitely points to that being the major theory. traveling through that airport before, there are levels of security, for me, when i went through there, my bags were scanned twice, before i was even able to get to the check in counter, and then your carry on luggage is scanned before you board the plane. this is the big question is how, whether their security at the airport just didn't see this device or was there inside help. and these are the two big questions right now. but egypt's security, as we heard from our aviation experts, the security here has been questioned. the british and the russians have yet to resume flights to

sharm al shake after the bombing of that metro jet crash. so there are a lot of questions about if egypt is able to handle the security at the airports and what is the quality of the security at the airports. especially in the light of someone taking or taking control of the plane, hijacking this plane. >> yeah, it's a disturbing development, it raises many questions, and we just don't have all the answers right now. ian lee in cairo. let me update you on the breaking news we're covering. the information we have confirmed as of right now is that this egyptair flight had been hijacked while it was en route from alexandria to cairo, taken north to cyprus. and you're looking at live pictures as the aircraft itself sits on the runway there at the larnaca airport. the latest information we have is that negotiations with the hijacker are currently under way. and this was facilitated, we understand, by a number of the

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welcome back to those of you watching here in the states and all around the world. i'm errol barnett with our breaking news this hour. a hijacked egyptair flight, ms 181 has landed at larnaca airport in cyprus.

these are live pictures coming to us from there now. the plane, an airbus 320 was en route from alexandria to cairo and had 81 passengers on board. egypt's civil aviation ministry says the airliner was forced to divert to cyprus due to a single hijacker with a belt bomb. let's bring in ian lee, he's watching this from cairo, and he joins us. any information you've been able to gather to update our viewers on this still-developing story? >> reporter: like you said, the negotiations are still under way with the hijacker. we do now know there are four foreigners and the crew. those are the only people remaining on board. all the egyptians that were on

board that plane were able to disembark and get off. the situation's still very much fluid right now. we do not know the current situation of those negotiations. normally, this is a short flight, a regional flight from alexandria to cairo. when this hijacker took control of it and forced it to land in larnaca. but right now the one big question is going to be how this person was able to get an explosive device, at least what the hijacker is saying is an explosive device on that plane. was this person able to go through normal security to get on board this plane? or was this an inside job? also it was, is this an explosive device, we still don't know if it is, there's a lot of questions right now. also the motivation behind that. these are things we'll be looking into in the coming hours. >> a short time ago i was speaking with one af yagts

expert in australia who noted that hijacking, hijackings themselves were much more common in the '60s and '70s. much less frequent in this day and age. you have countries like the united states, which like to say that they do not negotiate with terrorists. how unusual is it that the egyptian government is essentially confirming that most passengers were able to get off the plane, but some remain, because negotiations are under way? >> reporter: well, the one thing that's really striking between this situation and the situation that happened last october when a bomb blew up a russian metro jet plane is the transparency or communication we are getting from the egyptian government. they were fairly tight-lipped last october. and now we are getting steady updates from the egyptian government, telling us what, actually is going on. the egyptian government came under a lot of criticism since

that october bombing. a lot of it being their transparency and security. you have russia and the united kingdom banning flights from going to sharm el sheikh airport because of security concerns. this is going to raise more concerns about whether egypt can secure its airports. >> while you're speaking we are watching live pictures from the larnaca airport. we've seen the egyptair aircraft there. we have seen buses with what i presume to be passengers who have been released. there seems to be a few military vehicles at the airport. and you noted earlier that egyptair itself is trying to be a little bit more transparent with the sharing of information. let's show our viewers the most recent tweet from their official account as they sent it about seven minutes ago. quote, negotiations with the kidnapped result in the release

of all the passengers except the crew and four foreigners. has there been an effort, ian, by the government, by egyptair to be more transparent with information before this? or is this something new? >> reporter: this is something new, errol. we really haven't seen this sort of transparency or this sort of information that is available to the press, to the public right away. but we'll be monitoring it very closely, to see if this continues, especially in whatever direction the negotiations take place. but right now, this is very much a hostage situation in larnaca, on that plane. where we know that at least according to egyptair as well as authorities telling cnn that there are four foreigners on board that plane as well as the crew of that plane. negotiations right now trying to secure the release of those people and to end this situation

peacefully. we do not know the motivation behind this hijacking, what would cause this person to do this. is it terror related? is it south korea elsmething el? we don't know. but really right now, the main focus of security officials in larnaca as well as egyptian officials is to make sure that this incident ends peacefully, that no one is hurt. >> let's try to spin out some more information. we have confirmed, we know according to the pilot according to the egyptian aviation ministry that one passenger claimed to have an explosives belt. that's why the flight was diverted and taken to larnaca. we can see the flight route of that on our screens at the moment. what is the official protocol for something like this?

>> reporter: well, to have some sort of situation like this. the number one thing is to make sure that the passengers and the crew are safe. and to make sure that, to get them out of this situation as quickly as possible. the pilot was able to land at larnaca. it seems like this person has, most likely, a list of demands or wants something out of this, other than having a suicide belt, blowing himself up and taking down a plane. as we've seen with isis attack last october, when they blew up that russian metro jet plane, their goal was to destroy the plane and take as many lives as possible. what the motivations are behind this, and can they resolve this peacefully, we do know that the egyptian president is in contact with the president of cyprus,

trying to resolve this situation. they are going to be talking about how this can be ended peacefully. but the real big question is how this was able to happen in the beginning, and did he have, did this person have inside help. >> and for our viewers just joining us, you're watching live pictures coming to cnn from the larnaca airport in cyprus, as negotiations are under way with an individual who claimed to have a suicide -- or i should say -- an explosives belt, claimed to have this explosives belt, and the flight was diverted to where you see it now. because of those negotiations, most of the passengers, we understand they are egyptian, were allowed to deplane. however, the air egypt crew and four foreign earers are on boar that aircraft as we wait information. this originated in alexandria in

northern egypt. it's a place you've been many times, and i know we keep asking this question of how could someone get through with any explosives, if that is what happened here. but detail for us the security stance and posture at that airport. >> reporter: so when you go to the airport, right when you go into the building, you have, you go through a metal detector. you also have your luggage scanned. once you go through there, you go through another checkpoint that also scans luggage and checks people. then you get to the check-in counter. so you have layers of security even before you check in. and after that, once you give the check-in counter your bag, that bag goes through another level of security. and then the passenger goes through the final layer of security, which they scan the luggage. again, they pat down the

passenger. and so if this explosive device, if it is in fact an explosive device was able to get through these layers of security, the question is going to be how competent are these people looking at these bags to detect what is an explosive device and what isn't. we still don't know if this is in fact an actual explosive device. this is what the person is claiming at this moment. the other scenario, which is also very concerning is that could this be an inside job. the fact that someone working at the airport was able to give the hijacker the explosive device or some sort of device. these are the two real scenarios right now that we see it that could have taken place. again, though, we do not know if in is an actual explosive device. this is what the hijacker is claiming at this time. >> all right, these are all claims at this moment. we don't have confirmation that there are explosives on board,

but the pilot, of course, being as cautious as possible, thankfully most of the passengers have deplaned. in fact, in these pictures you can see that happening. passengers with their luggage going from the aircraft to some of the buses there on the airport. surely relieved that they're off the plane. it's difficult to read anything else into that as we wait to get confmation of exactly what is happening on board. but we do understand negotiations are under way with the individual on that aircraft who claimed to have an explosives belt and diverted that egyptair flight from egypt to cyprus. we continue to gather more information for you. stay with cnn. we're back in a few short moments.

continuing now with our breaking news.

a hijacked egyptair flight number ms 181 has landed at larnaca airport in cyprus. you're seeing some of the recent footage in to cnn from there. the plane, an airbus 30 was en route from alexandria to cairo and had 81 passengers on board. egypt's civil aviation ministry says the pilot was forced to divert the plane by a single hijacker who claimed to have a suicide belt, he claimed to have explosives with him. we have not been able to verify that yet, but out of an abundance of caution, the pilot diverted the flight to where if is now. most of the 81 passengers have been released, but the crew and four foreign passengers are still on board. tom ballantyne is the correspondent for an aviation publication. first, let's just begin with the

standard of what the protocol is when one passenger on an aircraft claims to have explosives with him. what is a pilot supposed to do? >> well, a pilot's suppose to, they do have a special signal they can use to air traffic control, for instance, some sort of a code word to alert air traffic control or people on the ground that something is amiss. we don't know how this person got on board, with whatever they have on them, whether if is an explosive belt. we don't know how they got into the cockpit. perhaps they got one of the cabin crew, because the cockpit door should have been locked. so they may have gotten one of the cabin crew to call the cockpit and tell them. the pilot would take no chances. he would follow the hijacker's wishes and go to cyprus. but the authority the on the ground would have been alerted i

have quickly as to what was happening. >> and just a bit of new information we're getting in, tom, but i want to bring our viewers, is that as these negotiations are under way, and we look at these pictures of some of the passengers leaving, of security vehicles becoming present, it's now clear that flights out of larnaca have been temporarily suspended. that understandable, and diverted to pathos airport. but tom, since we know that some of the passengers, most of the passengers as we watch here are allowed to deplane, the crew and some foreigners have been forced to stay on board. what does that tell us? and what is the protocol in this type of situation? >> well, it certainly tells us that whoever is responsible for this wanted to keep the foreigners. now we don't know at the moment whether this is isis or some other splinter group or islamic

extremeis extremists. we simply don't know. it could be something quite personal. but the process here would be for negotiators on the ground to occasion eon negotiati carry out negotiations on the ground to see whether his demands can be met in some way and gain release of the other passengers. the airport would be closed down. because the authorities would have to assume that he does have explosives, and of course, if you're an aircraft exploding on the ground, you don't want other aircraft around. so they're treating this very, very seriously and negotiating or attempting to negotiate very seriously with this person to find out exactly what they want and why they're doing what they're doing. >> and for a bit of historical context, tom, it was just october of last year that a russian flight, a russian jet fell out of the sky after an

explosion took place on board that plane killing all 224 people on board. it originated from sharm el sheikh, a resort town there in egypt shall the country telling the world that they've beefed up security since then. but what is the view from the aviation industry, from the experts? you all know of egyptian security when it comes to its airports? >> well, the view is not a very good one, really. there's a lot of suspicion that even though they say they've beefed up security, there are still gaps in security at egyptian airports. as we know, after the russian aircraft was shut down, a number of western airlines actually stopped flying there, because they did not trust the security system. and this incident today certainly raises more very, very serious questions about the level of security, how someone could get through that security and onto an aircraft with what he claims is an explosive belt. >> tom ballantyne is a chief

correspondent for oriental aviation, giving us some insight from sydney. thank you for that, tom. just to update our viewers, we're continuing to watch this breaking news out of cyprus, an egyptair flight diverted from egypt by a hijacker claiming to have an explosives belt. most of the passengers have been allowed to deplane, however, the crew and four foreigners are still on board that flight. we will continue to get more information for you. stay with cnn. we're back after a very short break. if you have medicare parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare

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continuing now with our breaking news. a hijacked egyptair flight, number ms 181 has landed at the larnaca airport in cyprus. it is an airbus 320, and it was en route from alexandria to cairo with 81 passengers on board. this is before egypt's civil aviation ministry says the pilot was forced to divert this plane by a single hijacker who claimed to be wearing a suicide belt. egyptair says negotiations with

that hijacker has freed most of the passengers, but the crew and some four foreigners are still on board. we are joined on the line with more on this still-breaking story. so there are more questions than answers at this moment, but a hijacking of an aircraft is such a rare incident in this day and age, much more common decades ago. what do you make of what we're all watching unfold? >> caller: well, certainly people are nervous and scared as to what has happened, especially as terrorism has been so common in the last few days. it's only one week now since the brussels attack. but airlines say this is unusual, it's different, the time of incidents we've seen on aviation security recently. it's the old-fashioned style of threats to aviation security. if this individual is connected to say a group like isis, i think the fate of the passengers

would have already been decided. the fact that most of them have been released, the foreigners and the aircrew is a positive sign. it seems that this individual is willing to negotiate. so one has to be hopeful that further progress can be achieved without any fatalities to any of the people on board. >> now we don't have confirmation that this individual has actual explosives. what we know from the aviation ministry is that the pilot reported back that this passenger claimed to have explosives, and that's why the flight was diverted. but i want to see what you make of this statement that we got in from egyptian officials. they essentially, and i'll just quote them here. quote, i doubt that he had explosives, because security has been heightened across all of egyptian airports, but we'll be able to confirm later. essentially, this individual with egypt's civil aviation ministry telling cnn that they're doubtful there are explosives on board, but only because security has been

heightened in egypt. we don't have confirmation of this yet, and neither do they. what do you make of that doubt? >> caller: well, it's important to establish this for sure one way or the other. because ever since the metro jet plane, the russian aircraft was blown up mid-air last year and that was connected directly to the isis affiliate in egypt, there has been confirmed that there are lapses in egyptian airport security, that if a bomb could get smuggled on board an aircraft, it means that there's either collusion or incompetence. >> i just want to interrupt. i want to ask you to stand by as we continue to get more information on all of this stay with cnn on this breaking story. we're back after these messages.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome viewers here in the united states and you watching from all around the world. i'm errol barnett with breaking news from cyprus. a plane was on route from alexandra to cairo and had 81 passengers on board. egypt air says negotiations with the hijacker are under way. already they freed most of the passengers. you see footage of them deplaning and getting on buses at the airport. but, the crew and four foreign