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Passenger takes 'selfie of a lifetime' with EgyptAir hijacker

Hijacker selfie Photo credit: Paul Smith via Twitter

A British man who was being held hostage by a hijacker on an EgyptAir flight decided he had to have one last selfie. 

Ben Innes, 26, of Aberdeen was a passenger on flight MS181 that Seif Eldin Mustafa hijacked. The flight was bound for Cairo from Alexandria and was forced to be redirected to Cyprus when Mustafa took over. 

Instead of panicking, Innes tells The Sun that  he "just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity."

During the hours long standoff, Mustafa released some hostages but Innes was among the few passengers and crew members kept onboard. According to The Guardian, Innes says everyone was just sitting around so he approached the hijacker and asked to take a picture with him. A crew member translated and Mustafa shrugged OK. 

"I could see he was wearing what looked like a bomb and I was obviously very scared. But he didn't seem particularly anxious," Innes said.  "We were sitting around and I thought, 'Why not? If he blows us all up it won't matter anyway."

The bomb was later found to be a fake.

After snapping the smiling photo, Innes went back to his seat and started texting his mom. 

"It has to be the best selfie ever," Innes said.

All of the passengers and crew members were eventually released and Mustafa was arrested. As for Innes, his friend Chris Tundogan says taking a picture with a criminal didn't really surprise him.

"I find it pretty mental but that's just Ben I guess!" 

(FYI: Innes' mother points out that, by definition, her son's photo is NOT a selfie. Innes says a flight attendant took the photo for him.)

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