Another day, another story. I was woken up this morning with a headline from BBC which said that an Egyptair plane was hijacked and landed in Larnaca airport in Cyprus. I froze. Please God, not another terrorist attack, I said to myself. I feared the worst, a week after the terrorist attacks in my current hometown in Brussels. This guy was going to blow up a plane full of innocent people who were simply taking a domestic flight in their home country, Egypt. The hijacker demanded it landed in Istanbul, Turkey, claiming he carried a suicide belt full of explosives. The pilot, with no option but to believe him, landed in Larnaca because there wasn't enough fuel to take the plane as far as Turkey.
It is the holiday period, many people are travelling at this time of year. Larnaca airport closed for the safety and security of other passengers and airport employees. This, of course created havoc, but more than that, fear and panic. With all that has been happening around the world, one could only assume this was yet another suicide bomber wanting to take down a plane full of passengers along with most of Larnaca airport with him.
The song 'Mad World' by Tears for Fears came to mind at that instant. Besides the horrific scenes of last week's attacks that have remained imprinted in my mind, and which seem to want to keep haunting me, this reminded me of the 1985 Egyptair hijack in Malta. Young as I was back then, I still carry vivid memories of it. The plane sitting there on the runway. I could see it from my parent's apartment, binoculars glued to my eyes to see what was going on. The rescue operation back then turned out to be quite messy, leaving sixty dead in the process.
Back to the Larnaca hijack. Most of the passengers, including all Egyptian nationals on board, were released soon after the plane landed, leaving European travellers and the crew on board. Just then I began to think this was not quite a terrorist attack, or if it were one, it was targeted towards the European travellers on board the plane. Towards Europe. If he were truly a suicide bomber he would have pulled the trigger while still up in the skies, not ask for it to land, then release most of the passengers. He would not have cared for those travelling along with him. All he would have cared for were his 72 virgins awaiting him in heaven. But he did not push the button.
I was asking myself, how could he have passed security wearing explosives ? Either security in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, as was thought was his departure point, was a sham or else the guy was bluffing that he carried a suicide belt to force the pilot to land where he wanted.
The moment I heard the newscaster saying that he handed a letter to be passed on to his ex-wife was the moment I began to lose interest in the story. The newscaster went on to say that the hijacker was demanding asylum in Cyprus. Why he asked the pilot to land in Turkey and not Cyprus in the first place I have no clue. Couldn't he have simply taken a plane to Larnaca and try to talk things through with his estranged wife rather than create a whole drama that was so uncalled for ? The man was clearly not in his senses, or rather, psychologically disturbed. If this was his idea of trying to get his ex-wife back then he was completely off-track.
I was right. The guy was never wearing, nor carried, any explosives with him. He just wanted to get his ex-wife's attention, the wrong way, causing mayhem in Larnaca airport and putting Cyprus in the news headlines, terrifying all those who were on board, closing the airport at a time when many were travelling during this Easter period. What did he gain in the end ? He was arrested and let's hope he is given the right treatment to bring him back to sanity but he certainly deserves to be locked up for a long time.
What has this world come to? This incident thankfully brought no loss of lives. This world, our Europe, is no longer a safe place to live in, not simply because of what happened in Larnaca airport today. Today's incident was a case of a psychologically disturbed man who took advantage of terrorism in order to achieve asylum in Cyprus, or win his ex-wife back. I am not sure of which as I stopped following the story shortly after the newsreader said the hijacker handed over a letter to be passed on to his ex-wife. But the first reaction was fear of yet another terrorist attack.
The moment I receive a news headline from the BBC News website, I freeze. A grim reminder of the one I received when the two bombs went off in Zaventem airport in Brussels, the very same day I was due to go home to visit my dear family and friends. My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones not only in last week's attacks in Brussels, which is what I am still trying to come to terms with, but all terrorist attacks that took place around the world.