Here's Why That Guy Posted For A Picture With The EgyptAir Hijacker

Here’s Why That Guy Posted For A Picture With The EgyptAir Hijacker

Published: April 1, 2016

Earlier in the week an EgyptAir flight scheduled to fly between Alexandria and Cairo was hijacked, and subsequently diverted to Cyprus. As it turns out, the hijacker’s ex-wife lived in Cyprus, and apparently he wanted to see her. Fortunately all the hostages were released and everyone was safe, other than the hijacker, who I assume will be serving some jail time.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of the hijacking was the photo a smiling passenger took with the hijacker. It’s not everyday you see a hostage asking for pictures with a hijacker, especially while the hijacking is still in progress.

So a guy hijacked a plane to win his ex back? And mid-hijack, this guy took a pic with him?? What a world. #EgyptAir pic.twitter.com/oJKa87PJVr

— Jay Whatley (@JayWhatley) March 29, 2016

I assume I’m not the only one who was wondering why on earth he was doing that… and it seems we now have an answer. Ben Innes, the British passenger in the photo, appeared in a BBC interview explaining why he posed for a photo with the hijacker:

For those of you who don’t want to watch the video, it basically boils down to:

Taking the picture was a conscious decision to try and take some control and influence their situation best he could
The hostage wanted the hijacker to understand that he wasn’t a threat, and that if he needed to be in the hijacker’s space at a later time, the hijacker would feel comfortable around him
The hostage wanted to see if the bomb might be real or fake, even though he has no expertise one way or another
If worst comes to worst, he wanted his family and friends to know he died how he lived, making the best of every situation

I’m not sure I totally follow the logic, though I also can’t imagine how he must have felt being on a hijacked flight. So I certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, given the very unenviable situation he was in.

Regardless, it’s interesting to hear firsthand from the hostage on a hijacked flight!

What do you make of his reasoning of asking the hijacker for a picture?

(Tip of the hat to Mike)

More discussion »

Conversations (12)

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Comment as a member

Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.

Loading comments…

Recent Comments

The latest from the OMAAT community.

Shambala Guest

April 2, 2016, 1:47 am

"If you want to read a full account of my 9/11 story you can do so here" Well, it's a better link than autoslash dot com, I guess. The main reason he did it was probably the same reason most people take selfies/pictures of this nature...narcissism.

‼ 0

Frog Guest

April 1, 2016, 9:59 pm

A number of years ago I was in Tokyo and a "tout" started pestering me for block after block, not leaving me alone. I finally lost it and spun around, knocking his arm off my shoulder and in the process I knocked the alcoholic beverage out of his hand. He got angry at me and a couple of his friends joined him. I've honestly never been so afraid in my entire life. They demanded that I go into a 7-11 and buy him another drink. Once inside, I had this weird thought - I travel to meet people different than myself - so I said, "as long as I'm buying for this guy, do you other guys want anything too?" What followed was a 15 minute conversation about leaving Ghana due to lack of opportunity and how the Japanese treat them like crap, but it's better than being home. I'm not sure a selfie is the best way to engage with a hijacker. But anyone who is going to hijack an airplane is going to have a story - very likely with more humanity than might be expected.

Tess Guest

April 1, 2016, 7:25 pm

Actually a good idea as it shows the device strapped to the hijacker. Apart from the visual of the hijacker himself, the image of the weapon could have been very useful if the worst had happened. I agree it is a way of taking psychological control, or at least going some way to ascertaining the state of mind/malleability of the hijacker. Also a distraction allowing other passengers/crew opportunity to possibly set up defensive measures.

RobertB Guest

April 1, 2016, 7:02 pm

I think the guy was actually kind of smart for doing this. Being a passenger, he had no idea of the hijacker's real intentions. Maybe he was thinking if he befriended him, the hijacker might think twice about doing something stupid that might hurt his "new friend". Just a touch of humanity in the mind of the hijacker... Worth a try!

Nuts2Buts Guest

April 1, 2016, 6:57 pm

He got his Scotch Goon on. He's a goddamn harp at heart.

Here’s Why That Guy Posted For A Picture With The EgyptAir Hijacker

Support OMAAT

Save posts to read later