you're saying correct from the manifest and then you say okay, we have one guy, we believe, from the manifest, the only weapon he's displaying or saying he has is a bomb on a suicide belt. have you seen it? what's it look like? you're trying to assess the threat. so you can deal with it. it's very important for the commanders. jim, we're looking at video right now of earlier when we're watching passengers leave that plane in cyprus. it doesn't look like there's a mad dash and sheer panic. again, obviously i'm sure they're just extremely delighted to be getting off that plane and headed to safety there at the airport. but it does seem like a bit of a controlled situation. does that give you more clue as to what could be happening on board? >> it looks like you negotiate that, the release of all the passengers, because everybody is not running out of there in a panic. it looks like it's been a

negotiated release. so the jetway or stairway was brought up there. the passengers were brought out. that was done in association with the police and authorities. those passengers will be brought in. they are a lot of intelligence for the negotiating team on what's been seen. and there are special operators who may have to deal with the hijacker what does he look like? what is he wearing? how did he speak? what was his accent? who did he threaten? where was he sitting? did it look like there was anybody helping him. was he talking on the telephone? does he have a telephone? there's so much intelligence to gather from the people who have been released that can help police try to assess how to deal with it going forward. >> jim, why would this possible

hijacker keep the seven crew members? is there an indication that maybe this plane could take off or once it's on the ground, those authorities will not let it leave? >> i think it would probably -- i don't think the authorities will let it leave. that's the right move. but in the -- it's an indication of what may be in the hijacker's mind that he still wants control of the airport and it's movement. it's ability to leave. that would be the only reason the crew is important to him. why would the crew be important? if he wanted to make a last stand right there, he could make it with all those passengers that he let go. if he didn't care about going somewhere, he wouldn't care, the crew could be counted as other passengers that were not foreign nationals that he might dislike or hate or have reason to hold. i think it gives us a clue or a picture into what he may or they may be thinking and that is that

he wants to go somewhere else. you know, he's trying to go to another place or make a spectacular event happen somewhere else. he could be also on the phone with a conspirator, someone directing him, you know. it may be one man on the plane, but it doesn't mean it's a one-man operation. >> right. again, just for those of us joining -- those of you joining us, it's unknown how many possible hijackers are on that plane. obviously there has to be at least one and the pilot. did report there was a threat from a passenger claiming to have an explosive belt from that point this plane landed in cyprus. keeping the crew on board, is that a positive for authorities? is there a situation where possibly the crew could still be -- even though this hijacker may have control of the plane now that it landed, is there a

possibility that those crew members can push a button or get into an area where they can relay information to authorities? >> the crew -- all is better, it's not a good situation that the crew is there, but from the police standpoint you have a professional flight crew. and you can count on them to work with you. you can count on the pilot and the co-pilot and the flight crew to work with you. so, that is a positive. if they can successfully communicate with the captain and copilot through the airport radio, telephone, they might be able to be able to deal with it that way if that cockpit flight deck has been secured and never breached, that's also a plus for authorities. they might be able to work with that. but in the hijacker's mind, keeping the flight crew keeps control of the plane. it's not likely this guy or any guy with a suicide belt is going to fly that plane by himself. so if he thinks he wants to go

somewhere else, he will need that flight crew. >> right. address we're catching this play out, i think what is most disturbing for people is the fact that it appears that foreigners have been targeted in this hijacking in the sheer fact that everyone else was let off of that plane except for four foreigners. we do not know the nationalities of those foreigners on board. but what does this tell you? >> there's a grudge. there's a reason. there's a purpose. it may be found in the people that he's targeted. you're exactly right, betty. who are they? why you are holding those four people? they represent something to him. something he's against. something he hates. somewhere he wants to go. something that happened to his family, to him. to his belief system. these people he's holding are --

have a meaning for him. so what is that meaning? that's what authorities have to determine. you know, with all the conflict in the region, you know, are they members of a nation that's in conflict with the nation this guy or guys or a woman -- we don't quite know -- are from? so -- you know, you can pick your conflict there from turkey to the kurds, to the palestinians, to israelis, isis, iraq, to iran. you can go around to yemen. you can pick your conflicts, or you can pick right there in egypt. there's a plethora of places and people who have conflicts for all kinds of reasons. those are the big ones. there's also small ones and personal issues. they represent something to him. when authorities find that out, the negotiator wants to be armed with that so they can at least

talk with him. if the person is alone f he's a wannabe terrorist, suicide bo bomber, if he's alone, it's a chance to work through this and end it with a positive result. >> we're looking at this plane, egyptair flight 181 on the ground in cyprus. everyone there were 81 passengers on board. everyone has been set free except for four foreigners and seven crew members. the cyprus airport has been on lockdown. a source close to nbc news says the hijacker seems to be egyptian. i don't know what that could tell us at this moment. all of it is very general. we have no specifics on this possible hijacker or multiple hijackers. it seems like information is trickling in.

how long do authorities want to keep the dialogue going? is there a point where they say after so many hours we need to make a move or this is not going to be resolved in a good manner? >> well, when -- the commander has to read the escalation -- de-escalation of an event, any kind of decision for an assault like that, emergency assault, you have to be prepared at any moment. if he was to start to kill people, you have to be ready to go at any moment. a deliberate assault you wouldn't launch that unless you had a reason that the situation was escalating. so, you have to read that. you have to read escalation and de-e de-escalation, that's part of the commander's job, tactical supervisor and chief negotiator. that's the critical point in this. is it deescalating? is he working with you? is he assessing your demands?

are you able to exchange food? talk to people? >> is there any progress being made. that's key at this moment. jim, i will ask you to stand by for a second. we have clint van zandt on the phone, former fbi chief hostage negotiator. as you're watching this play out, this plane that has been hijacked on the way from alexandria to cairo, egyptair flight 181 with 81 people on board, all have been set free except for four foreigners, seven crew members. as a form chief hostage negotiator, looking at this situation what is happening now on the ground? >> i think there's a lot of -- a number of different things that you just have been talking to jim about. my background is as a hostage negotiator. but a hostage negotiator is part of a team. hopefully the police, the military are able to do a number

of things. number one, they want to confine that plane. they don't want that plane to take off again. i've seen severe situations and realize i'm going back 20, 30, 40 years where law enforcement would do everything they would to stop the plane from leaving again, including shoot out the tires if they had to. it's usually a tactical premise, once you get a hijacked plane on the ground, and here we have one with an individual suggesting he had a bomb. we did a study back when i was in the fbi, we looked, and the vast majority of individuals that alleged they had a bomb, they didn't. it was a fake device. we also know that you can't necessarily take that chance with people on board, with the aircraft, et cetera. so you proceed as if that likely is an explosive device, even though the odds are probably against it. then you try to find out what

the person wants. this is a routine hostage situation. it's just done in a mobile device, in this case an aircraft. what do you need? you know, jim is a negotiator, too. these are the situations you get stabilized on the ground. make sure the plane is stabilized. you get everybody off that you can. and you find out what this individual needs. hey, this is jim cavanaugh, this is clint van zandt, we're negotiators. we're here to help you. what can we do for you? what can we help you do? we need to get this person talking to us. do they have a political situation they want to talk about. are they seeking monetary demands? do they just want attention? is it somebody with a mental health condition? whatever it is, the more information that we can gather, that helps not only the negotiators and the government officials plot how to deal with this, but it also gives the

tactical team information they can find out where are the hostages on the plane. where is the subject? where is the bomb? if you have to make an entry on that plane. so the negotiator is trying to gather information, talk this individual off without anybody being hurt and also trying to gather information, if they have to go on board, where is he? what is he doing? how do we get him off without anyone being hurt. it's kind of a multi-phase job. but it's -- once you get a plane on the ground, there's a much more semi sigh of relief that you're not dealing with that flying bomb potentially going through the air. >> clint, there are seven crew members on board. hopefully at this point he or she or however many hostagetakers are on this plane doesn't take off with these crew members on board. but i guess the question is,

looking at where this plane is on the tarmac there, it looks like it's away from the main airport area. it doesn't look like it's in a position to take off quickly, if that was ever the intention of the hijacker. >> when the pilot is putting the plane down, even though the hijacker may make some strong suggestions, most airports have locations where they want to see a hijacked airplane parked. it's going to be someplace, as you suggest, away from the terminal, away from other people. you want to put the plane in a place where authorities can see it, deal with it, but maybe not necessarily the individual walking around looking out the plane is not going to see the authorities if they have to come close to the plane. it's normally a place where the police and military want the

plane, not where the bad guy wants it. >> i want to bring in nbc's rehema ellis. she's in the london bureau. have you been able to gather new information as to what's going on in cyprus? >> there's no confirmation on what's happening on board that plane. that is, number one, the identity of the person who is alleging he has explosives strapped to him. exactly how many of these alleged hijackers are there? there is good news, that is, as you've been talking about, the majority of passengers have been freed. part of what we know from the wire worreports and reporting i that at one point there were upwards of 60 crew members and passengers on board. of those on board, we were told eight were written citizens and ten americans at one point. i'm sure you've been mentioning about the fact that early on, once the plane had been on the ground in cyprus, they did allow

women and children to be released from the plane. 20 early on. and then the latest information we're getting is that majority of the passengers have been released with the exception of some foreigners. we do not know the nationality of those foreigners at this moment. the big thing we also don't know is what this hijacker wants. no demands have been mentioned at this time. the other thing that's a huge question right now is is -- does, indeed, this hijacker have explosives? big questions are being raised as to whether or not these explosives that may have been on hill, h him, how he got through the security sections. >> that's a big question. all right. we'll check in with you shortly. this plane is on the ground. all passengers have been released except for four foreigners and seven crew members. . because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®.

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we are continuing to follow breaking news out of cyprus, where egyptair flight 181 has

been hijacked and is on the ground. all passengers, except four foreigners and seven crew members have been released. a number of passengers have been released. the majority of them. four foreigners are still on board that plane and seven crew members. we also don't know the identity and how many hijacker there's are on board. we know at least one report from a passenger that the person had an explosive belt. rehema ellis, i want to see if you have more information on this. we are hearing from nbc news that this could be a personal matter involving a woman what do you know about that? >> that's exactly what we are hearing. as you point out, there are indications that this is some sort of -- could be a domestic

issue involving this person who has hijacked this plane, to your point, just reiterating, nbc news learned from high-level sources that some sort of personal matter is at the root of this. it involves a woman. now, what does that tell us about why this person wanted to come to cyprus? we don't know. there's no detail reporting on that yet. this egyptair flight was domestic expected to go from alexandria to cairo. this person on board, contacted a flight atetendant and informe them that there was explosives, and directed that the plane go to cypress. so this is some sort of personal matter involving a woman. why were the negotiators successfully able to encourage this person to release all

passengers? we originally heard that they were -- this person was allowing women and children to be released from the plane. and then later we heard that all the passengers, with the exception of four foreigners and the seven crew members, remain on the plane with this hijacker. is there just one hijacker or more? we are not clear on that at the moment. again, appears to be a personal matter and not some terrorist activity involved. more of a personal nature. >> this will be interesting to figure out if these four foreigners have anything to do with this personal matter. why would you let everyone else go except these four foreigners if this is not an act of terrorism but more a personal situation that seems to be a question that's coming to my mind. we'll be learning more about it throughout the morning. the good news is that the majority of passengers on board have been set free.

rehema, stand by. i want to bring in clint van zandt. as you listen to this information, what's going through your head? >> a couple things. very quickly, a negotiator can try to get a feel with what you're dealing with and try to get a feel for the danger level. is this one who has made up their mind they'll do damage to the plane or injury to the remaining passengers? or is this somebody who simply needs time to resolve this, to work this out? from the information that you have been able to pass on right now, if it, in fact, is a personal matter and if this individual is speaking rationally to the negotiators, they may in their own way start feeling some was good. in essence, if this guy is not ranting and raging, if he doesn't say i brought the plane here to do harm to myself and others -- >> clint, stand by a second. we have to get a break in. we will continue to follow this breaking news out of cyprus of a

hijacked plane.

we have continuing coverage of this breaking news out of cyprus. egyptair flight 181 has been hijacked. it's on the ground in cyprus. the good news is the 81 pa passengpasso passengers and crew on board have been set free except four foreigners and seven crew members. we have been told this is a possibly a personal matter involving a woman, according to a high-level source telling nbc news. we don't know the deal with the hijackers if there's more than one.

we will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest here on msnbc.

breaking news this morning. i'm rehema ellis out of london. an egyptian airbus, flight 181 has been hijacked. it was a domestic flight scheduled from alexandria to cairo. authorities say a man hijacked that flight forcing it to land in cyprus.

there were about 60 passengers on board with crew among them. eight americans and a security member on board that plane. the passenger apparently told crew members that he had explosives strapped to him, and he wanted the plane to land, we believe, in cyprus. the egyptian civil aviation authority is reporting that there were eight americans on board. good news to say, that is that of the passengers on board, the majority of them have been released from that plane. but we're told, again, some passengers remain. about five -- four to moofive passengers remain as well as the crew members. i want to bring in former fbi investigator clint van zandt. clint what is your thinking about what's happening here according to the egyptian authorities? we are hearing this might involve a person who has a personal matter involving a woman. and that has forced him to take this kind of action.

your thoughts on this? >> short of the hijacking itself, you know, if you had to make an assessment how things are going right now, from a negotiator's standpoint things are going well. this plane started out with 56 passeng passengers, the majority of those passengers, women, children and others have been allowed to leave. we're down to four foreigners and seven crew members. there's a number of reasons for that. number one, the negotiators just may be very adept at talking to this guy. or this hijacker. and have gotten these people released. number two, he may -- or the hijacker may misunderstand what a logistical nightmare it is to handle a plane full of people. when you say who needs to go to the bathroom, all of a sudden 75 hands go in the air, that's too much for one person to handle

logistically. we've seen cases in the past where hijackers are just smart enough to say, you know what? i have to get the number down to a number i can deal with i'll keep the crew in case, in my mind, i may believe this plane will fly again from this spot. i'll keep a few foreign natio l nationals, but i'll get everybody else off the plane. that's positive. whatever the hijackers reason for getting the people off the plane, that's good. what the negotiators will continue to do is multi-fold. number one, obviously they'll try to get the other passengers and crew off the plane. number two, they'll want to find out exactly what the issue is. what the problem is. why did you do this? in essence -- >> for sure. >> do you want to make a statement. >> clint, for sure. to your point we're hearing from high-level sources, nbc news has been told by a high-level source

that this is a personal matter involving a woman. now what does that tell you about how negotiators might be able to persuade this person to give up this hijacking? >> well, sometimes -- let's say hypothetically the hijacker is a man, he has the plane in cyprus, there's a woman in cyprus, as you suggest -- or there's a woman that's involved either in cyprus or someplace else, he may make a demand like bring her here. bring her to me if she's not already on the plane or if she's not already in that town. well, for many that would seem like, hey, let's just get her and bring her here. but we're always careful about that. if you do something like that, he may have some extreme situation going on with her where if he would bring her hypothetically to that plane, he

might take some untoward action. so the negotiators have to be careful of measuring what he asks for, how quickly you get it to him. and what the resolution might be. we had a plane in america one time, we had a hijacker on board, he claimed he had a bomb. we were very slowly through negotiations able to get the passengers out. we finally got the hijacker to surrender if we gave him a pack of cigarettes. it's amazing what, over a period of time, you can get someone to come around and do, especially, as you noted, with this background. it doesn't seem to be an international terrorist. it doesn't seem to be a sophisticated criminal. it seems to be someone who may have just an emotional situation that he simply couldn't deal with and this is the way he is frustrated and reaching out. we can deal with that. we can help him deal with that.

negotiators and law enforcement can take their time. there's a very good chance this situation will be resolved positively. but it's going to take some time from the authorities. >> clint, thank you for that. i think betty is joining us again. >> yes, thanks so much for that, clint. we do appreciate that. i want to bring in jim cavanaugh now, former atf agent who has been listening to all of this as well. the fact that this is more of a personal matter, according to that high-level source reporting that information to nbc news, does that give you the same indication as clint was saying that this is something that hopefully can be easily resolved? >> well, not easily, betty. i agree with everything clint said. let's hope negotiators there have been trained by clint and some of those negotiators at the fbi units have been trained negotiators all over the world. but he's exactly right.

a personal matter often can be resolved. you reported earlier that the hijacker wanted to go to cyprus. so there's something there, like clint said. maybe a woman there, something else there that he wants. he was an egyptian national it was reported earlier. does he want to be in cyprus? does he want some personal problem fixed, the relationship, divorce, settlement, whatever it may be. those are all positive things. authorities are used to dealing with those. sometimes some of those demands are reachable things. like clint said, you don't necessarily want to bring the woman or a loved one there because the guy might want to commit suicide in front of them or do something crazy. >> jim, let me ask you this. because we're learning that it is very likely a personal matter involving a woman.

could its will be likely that this reported explosive belt may not even really be an explosive belt? it could be a fake? this guy could be desperate and upset about this personal situation going on in his life and he's created this hijacking and caused this plane to land, but there may not be any kind of explosives on board. >> that would not be unusual. that would not be unusual for a guy to have a hoax device, jump up, claim it's a bomb and he could have taken the whole thing this far, to this point already with not even a weapon. just threatening that he has an explosive device. of course, the times we live in, the news every day is bombs worldwide. so he would benefit from that in the public's mind even more than everybody is going to react appropriately. the authorities have to do --

react as if it is a bomb. there's no other way for them to act. as they gain intelligence, they'll get intelligence from all the passengers who have disembarked. did you see the bomb? what did it look like? what was he doing with it? was there a switch in his hand? was there wires? was he holding it? what was the container like? where was he sitting? was he talking to anyone on the phone? what was his manner? was he nervous, sweating, excited. >> jim, we'll have to take a quick break. when we come back, i want to talk about the foreigners on that flight. we do have a list of them. four are still being held on that plane at this hour. stay with us for more on this breaking news coverage. if your family outing is magical

for all the wrong reasons. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®.

ifor all the wrong reasons.gical you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®. hello, everybody. we continue to follow breaking news out of cyprus where egypt air flight 181 has been hijacked. it is on the ground there. of the 81 people on the board, all have been released except four foreigners and seven crew members. a lot of this information is coming to us and we're trying to break down what's happening on

board, if there's one hijacker or multiple hijackers. at this point we know of only one. the pilot spoke about a reported threat by a passenger claiming to have an explosive belt. then we learned not long ago from a high-level source at nbc news saying the hijacking seems to be about a personal matter involving a woman. i want to bring in nbc's rehema ellis. we're also getting more information about the breakdown of the foreigners on board that plane which could give us a clue as to who the four foreigners still on board that plane might be. >> absolutely is what we're hearing from the egypt civil aviation authority, these are the numbers and -- that they're giving us. there were eight americans on board. four dutch, two belgians, one french, one italian, one syrian, one security member, that's, i think important to note, we might ask our experts, clint van

zandt, about this. 15 crew members. and the rest presumably egyptians. there might have been extra crew members flying on board in uniform, but they were off-duty. it's not uncommon for flight attendants to hop a ride, if you will, back to their home base and do be on board a flight like that. eight americans on board. what we don't know is who are the passengers remaining on that flight? this hijacker, once the plane landed in cyprus, allowed the majority of passengers to get off that plane. but four people, we understand, were kept on the plane along with the crew. whether or not that security member is one of those four we do not know. it's curious, i should say it's interesting to note that there was even a security member on board, which is common as we all know on american flights. >> rehema, we're also getting

information -- this is not confirmed by nbc news -- but other news agencies are reporting that the hijacker could be veterinary professor at alexandria university in egypt. this is not verified by nbc news. but there may have even been a letter thrown from the plane to the tarmac. this would give more information as to what the motive is for this hijacker, and what the demands might be. rehema, stand by. i want to go to clint van zandt, former fbi chief hostage negotiator. all of this, as we've been saying, has been very fluid. it's coming in rapidly into msnbc. we're trying to decipher this information. again, reports that this could be a professor and a letter has been thrown from the plane to the tarmac. so what does that tell you? >> there's a lot of information

floating around as there is quickly on situations like this. some may be true, some may not. as you're reporting, this individual may be a professor. there's also reports that he's a visiting professor in atlanta, georgia. that he's a 28-year-old egyptian, and that this is his ex-wife with whom he's trying to make contact with. she's a -- she's a greek. he's demanding she be brought to the airport. all this information, as you suggest, is not coming from nbc, it's coming from local news authorities, law enforcement. we don't know the validity of that yet. there's even a picture being put out suggesting this is the individual on board the airplane. should most of this information that's coming to us now from international sources that are

on scene, should that all be true, these things are positive. what the -- the interesting time for the safety of everyone is going to be if, in fact, this is a domestic situation and thif ts individual's wife is brought to the airport, what takes place then? does he demand personal contact with her? does he want her to get on the plane, does he want to get off the plane and talk to her? there are also suggestions that he's demanding political asylum. there's a number of things rolled up in this media ball right now that we're just not 100% sure of. >> there's so much information floating out there. we're trying to verify all these reports. we don't want to give you false information, but we want to keep you on top of what we're hearing. we're pulling the curtain back and letting you know what's coming into our newsroom.

it's a very interesting and i couhaotic and surreal that a person would hijack a plane to try to speak to his ex-wife. but we've heard of crazy things out there before. but you are involving other peoples lives. there are four foreigners, seven crew members caught up in what could be a domestic issue. when we look at the manifest, and see who is on that plane there are eight americans on that plane. four dutch two belgian, two french, two italian, one syrian. we don't know the four foreigners still on that plane. when we come back, i want to talk with you about why keep those foreigners on there? are they high-value hostages? what was the motive in that as we look at situation on the whole. stay with us on msnbc. we continue to break apart

what's happening in cyprus with this hijacking of egyptair flight 181.

we are following breaking news out of cyprus where egyptair flight 181 has been hijacked. it's been on the ground for several hours now. the hijacker, we understand through unconfirmed reports, is wanting to see his ex-wife. we don't know the exact details of this this has not been verified by nbc news. those are the reports out there, this could ab domestic issue. i want to bring in nbc's rehema ellis. she's in our london bureau caught up in what could possibly be a domestic flight. on that plane are four foreigners and seven crew members. what do you know about them? >> we are just learning -- earlier we knew from high-level sources that told nbc news that this seemed to involve a

personal matter involving a woman. now we are able to report that according to authorities, that the hijacker has requested to speak to a woman who appears to be his ex-wife. they're negotiating with him about that. let me tell you something about the passengers on board this flight. we are told there were eight americans who were members of this -- on the flight. four dutch two belgians, one french, one italian, one syrian, one security member, 15 crew members. some of them were off-duty, presumably the rest of the passengers were egyptians. this is coming from egypt's civil aviation authority. there had been over 60 passengers on board the flight that was, as you point out, a domestic flight from alexandria to cairo that was diverted, hijacked and forced to land in cyprus. now we're hearing this hijacker,

who noted to the crew members that he had an explosive str strapped to himself and he wanted the flight to land in cyprus. we are hearing that he has requested to speak with a cyp a cypriat woman who appears to be his ex-wife and bring this hijacking to an end. >> there's a lot of information floating around. we're learning more about this hijacker involved. there was questions earlier if there was more than one hijacker on board this plane. right now it seems there's only one. do we have clint van zandt available to us? >> yes. >> clint, now that we know this seems to be a domestic issue between a man and his ex-wife, keeping four foreigners on board that plane and seven crew members what is the motive behind that?

are those foreigners considered high-level hostages, if you will, because they are not egyptians and this was an egyptian flight? >> it's interesting. if this person is, who foreign media is suggesting he is, a college professor, this is not just somebody who, you know what a low-level job who broke down. this is an individual who obviously has the capability to think and work things out in his own mind. when you keep those extra foreign nationals on board, it may well be his own form of insurance, feeling it would be harder to deal with a plane where you have nationals from a number of countries, therefore one government, the government where the plane is sitting right now could make an independent decision and tactically go on board the plane. not that they would. but if the local news media is

right, they have the individual's name. they know what see the he sat in in the airpolane. as you guys reported, he threw a letter out the plane written in arabic demanding to speak to his ex-wife who may well be brought to the scene. he's asking for asylum potentially. there's a number of things going on. from a negotiator's standpoint from a safety standpoint that's good. as long as you have someone asking for something, you have things to talk about. you have things to to take time up. they're six hours ahead of east coast time now. it's getting around noon. so the authorities don't have to be in that big of a hurriment they have plenty of light. they can see what's going on. everything is positive at this point for this situation to be resolved as long as nobody makes a drastic mistake. you know, the individual -- what are the chances that he actually

has an explosive vest on him? there's a statistical chance that he has it, but more likely than not in a situation like this he doesn't. but you take him at his word. you have no other choice right now. but it's going to get interesting if, in fact, they bring this so called ex-wife to the scene. how is that going to be handled? i've done situations like that where i had family members come to the scene. we've had them on the phone. sometimes they demand face-to-face contact. >> right. okay, clint, we have to get a break in real quick. i want to speak with you more about this. we'll come back to you shortly. for the viewers watching, this hijacked plane, egyptair flight 181 is on the ground. most of the passengers have been set free. there are still 11 people on board. we'll continue to follow this story.

breaking news out of cyprus, egyptair flight 181 has been hijacked. it is on the ground. most of the passengers have been set free, though there are 11 people still on board that plane including seven crew members and for foreigners. we are told this could be a domestic issue involving a man wanting to see his ex-wife, who lives in cyprus there. negotiators are discussing the possibility of bringing her there to help diffuse the situation. we're trying to learn if this

hijacker has an explosive device on board. there's some question as to whether that is the case. it does seem to be a domestic situation that has prompted this hijacking of egypt hair flight ms 181 that took off from alexandria and was headed to cairo. we'll continue to follow breaking news on msnbc. it's not a quick fix. it's my decision to make beauty last. roc retinol started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. and the longer i use it the better it works. retinol correxion from roc. methods, not miracles.

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there was more than one. it appears right now we are narrowing things down to the fact that there may just be one on board. what we know about this possible hijacker is he is some kind of a veterinary professor at alexandria university. that's coming from wire reports. and from nbc news though a high level source has told the network that this actually could be a personal matter involving a woman. so this could be a domestic issue that turned into a hijacking and now this plane is on the ground there in cyprus. i want to bring in clint van zandt, a former fbi chief hostage negotiator. looking at this on the whole and seeing it's a domestic and not a larger act of terrorism, if you will, i guess for those on the groundworking to make this situation go away as quickly and peacefully as