EgyptAir flight 181: Hijacker arrested and all hostages freed from plane to end Cyprus airport siege - latest updates

Airbus A320 carrying 55 passengers was hijacked by a man claiming to have a suicide belt

An Egypt Air Airbus A-320 sits on the tarmac of Larnaca aiport after it was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus (Getty Images)

• Siege ends as hijacker and last hostages leave plane
• Hijacker named by Cyprus officials as Seif Eldin Mustafa
• Plane carrying 55 passengers was hijacked en route from Alexandria to Cairo
• All but three passengers and four crew released after hostage negotiations
• Another jet bound for New York delayed 'due to security concerns'
• Hijacker 'demands to speak to ex-wife' as man is wrongly identified as Ibrahim Samaha
• Egyptian official dismisses man as 'not a terrorist, [but] an idiot' 
• Airline says plane landed when pilot threatened by man 'in possession of suicide vest'

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EgyptAir Flight 181 was was on a scheduled journey from Alexandria when it veered off course on Tuesday morning.

Androulla Vassiliou, the Cypriot former European Commissioner for Education, wrote on Twitter that the plane landed shortly before 7am.

Satellite data recorded by the Flight Aware website showed the Airbus A320 took off from Borg El Arab Airport as scheduled.

EgyptAir confirmed its plane, numbered MS181, had been “officially hijacked”.