Cairo, Egypt: Everyone on board a hijacked EgyptAir flight diverted to Cyrus on Tuesday has been released except for four crew members and three passengers, Egypt’s civil aviation minister said.

Sherif Fathy told a press conference that the captain, a co-pilot, an air hostess and a security man remained on board, along with the three passengers.

He said there had been 55 passengers on board the plane, which was headed from Alexandria to Cairo, when the hijacker demanded it land in either Turkey or Cyprus.

The aviation ministry had earlier said 81 people were on board.

‘He had no gun or anything. We don’t know yet whether his (explosives) belt is real but for the safety of passengers we are dealing with it as real,’ he said.

A plane will head to Larnaca at 1030 GMT to pick up the released passengers, he said.

Hijacking 'not terrorism-related

The Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said  the hijacking of an EgyptAir plane to Cyprus is not related to terrorism.

The hijacking is not terrorism-related,’ he told a joint news conference with the visiting president of the European Parliament Martin Schultz.

Anastasiades said the Cyprus government had done everything it could to ensure the safe release of the passengers, most of whom were reported to have been set free.

Hijacker demands to see estranged Cypriot wife

The hijacker of an EgyptAir plane diverted to Cyprus has an estranged Cypriot wife he has demanded to see and who is being brought to Larnaca airport, a government source said.

The woman lives in the village of Oroklini not far from the airport, the source told AFP.