Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The suspect emerged from the plane and was later detained 
 
 A hijacking that diverted a domestic Egyptian flight to Cyprus has ended with all hostages released and the hijacker surrendering. 
 
 EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide explosive belt. 
 
 Airline officials later said they had been told by Cypriot authorities that the belt was fake. 
 
 The hijacker's motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism-related. 
 
 No-one was injured in the hijacking, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodulides tweeted. 
 
 How the hijacking unfolded 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption A man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraft 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Cypriot security services were waiting for him 
 
 After a morning of tension, the hijacker was seen walking down aircraft steps at Larnaca airport with his hands raised. 
 
 Some reports said the Egyptian man - named by Cypriot officials as Seif Eldin Mustafa - wanted to talk to his estranged Cypriot wife who lives on the Mediterranean island, while others said he was seeking the release of female prisoners in Egypt. 
 
 Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner 
 
 Image copyright Reuters 
 
 It is only some small comfort that the man who hijacked Egyptair flight MS181 was bluffing. The bulging white "suicide belt" with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake. 
 
 It at least means that this time Egypt cannot be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport, destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid-air. 
 
 But it still triggers a number of worrying questions about aviation security. 
 
 How was it that a passenger, described by the Cypriot authorities as "mentally unstable" was able to carry enough materials through Alexandria airport to resemble a bomb? 
 
 And what is to stop any future airline passenger, similarly unarmed, from pretending that he or she has a real device strapped to them? 
 
 For Egypt's battered tourism industry, that has yet to recover from the October airline bombing, this hijack is a further blow it can ill afford. 
 
 The hijacker's surrender came shortly after several people were seen fleeing the aircraft. One - apparently a crew member - escaped by climbing out of the aircraft's cockpit window. 
 
 Throughout the morning, people had been seen leaving the aircraft after appearing to have been released. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A man was seen fleeing from a cockpit window shortly before the hijacker surrendered 
 
 Local media reports said the hijacker had handed over a four-page letter in Arabic after the plane landed at Larnaca on Tuesday morning, and that later a woman thought to be his wife had arrived at the airport. 
 
 Earlier, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter's question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: "Always there is a woman involved." 
 
 Egypt airport security 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty 
 
 Video posted by Egypt's Interior Ministry on its Facebook page shows the suspected hijacker passing through airport security in Alexandria. 
 
 Egypt says it has taken steps to improve safety after Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown up over Sinai last October: 
 
 British consultancy Control Risks to review security at Cairo, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam airports 
 
 $1bn a year to upgrade airport security 
 
 Increased and more thorough checks 
 
 Despite this, the BBC's Youssef Taha says checks remain patchy and inconsistent: 
 
 Many VIPs refuse to be searched and MPs claim immunity 
 
 Airport and airline staff do not usually go through full screening 
 
 EgyptAir said the Airbus A320 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official. It had initially said 81 passengers were on board. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades: "Always there is a woman involved" 
 
 A statement from Egypt's civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian. 
 
 Larnaca airport, on the south coast of Cyprus, has been closed and scheduled flights diverted elsewhere. ||||| Police officers stand guards by the fence of the airport as a hijacked EgyptAir aircraft is seen after landing at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The EgyptAir plane was hijacked on... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers stand guards by the fence of the airport as a hijacked EgyptAir aircraft is seen after landing at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The EgyptAir plane was hijacked on Tuesday while flying from the Egyptian Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria to the capital, Cairo,... (Associated Press) 
 
 LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — An Egyptian man hijacked an EgyptAir plane Tuesday and forced it to land in Cyprus, where most passengers were eventually allowed to get off, though four crew members and three passengers remained on board with the hijacker, Egyptian and Cypriot officials said. 
 
 The man's motivation was unclear, but Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said the hijacking was "not something that has to do with terrorism" and a Cyprus government official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the man "seems (to be) in love." 
 
 A civil aviation official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to disclose details of ongoing negotiations, said the man gave negotiators the name of a woman who lives in Cyprus and asked to give her an envelope. It's unclear what relationship she and the man have. 
 
 Flight MS181 took off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria en route to Cairo with at least 55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and a seven-member crew. 
 
 An official with flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 said the plane showed no immediate signs of distress. The flight between Alexandria and Cairo normally takes about 30 minutes. 
 
 There was some confusion about the hijacker's identity. At a news conference in Cairo, Egypt's Civil Aviation minister, Sharif Fathi, refused to identify him. 
 
 Earlier, Egyptian government spokesman Hossam al-Queish said the hijacker was Ibrahim Samaha, but an Egyptian woman who identified herself as Samaha's wife said her husband is not the hijacker and was on his way to Cairo so he could fly to the U.S. to attend a conference. 
 
 The woman, who identified herself only as Nahla, told the Egyptian private TV network ONTV in a phone interview that her husband had never been to Cyprus and that a photo on Egyptian and regional TV channels that supposedly showed the hijacker was not him. Later, the official Middle East News Agency gave a different name for the hijacker. 
 
 Al-Queish, the government spokesman, also told the private CBC TV network that authorities could not confirm that the hijacker had explosives on him. An earlier statement from the Egyptian Aviation Ministry said the man claimed he had a belt with explosives. 
 
 The plane landed at the airport in the southern Cypriot city of Larnaca, also on the Mediterranean. A statement from the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry statement said the foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian. Three other foreigners could not be identified. Fathi did not give the nationalities of those who remained on the plane. 
 
 The incident raises more questions about security at Egyptian airports, five months after a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. 
 
 All 224 people on board were killed in the crash. Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft and the extremist Islamic State group took responsibility. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Hendawi reported from Cairo. Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.
– An EgyptAir plane with about 60 people aboard was hijacked Tuesday while flying from the coastal city of Alexandria to Cairo, and then forced to land in Cyprus, reports the AP. Fortunately, it appears to have ended without violence after hours of negotiations, with all aboard freed and the hijacker arrested. Details were still emerging about his motivation, but Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades previously said it was "not something that has to do with terrorism," reports the AP, and a Cyprus government official said the man "seems (to be) in love." A civil aviation official said the man gave negotiators the name of a woman who lives in Cyprus and asked to give her an envelope. It's unclear what relationship she and the man have, but some reports say she is his estranged wife. Asked whether the hijacking involved romance, the Cyprian president laughed and said, "Always, there is a woman involved." However, much confusion surrounded the incident, with the BBC citing reports that he had asked for the release of female prisoners in Egypt. There was also some confusion about the identity of the hijacker, who reportedly claimed to have explosives on him and had allowed most of the passengers to leave the plane upon landing. At a news conference prior to the arrest, Egypt's Civil Aviation minister refused to identify him. Earlier, an Egyptian government spokesman offered up a name, but an Egyptian woman who identified herself as his wife said her husband is not the hijacker and was on his way to Cairo so he could fly to the US to attend a conference. Flight MS181 took off from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria with at least 55 passengers, including 26 foreigners, and a seven-member crew.