Listening to BBC forces radio early in the morning when there is brief breaking news mention of a hijacked plane heading toward Cyprus. Confirmed by googling on the ipad. M rings to ask if we're watching Euronews. We're not, but when we turn it on, there's only a brief line about it on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. J leaves for his morning walk on the beach and as soon as he goes the pace of reporting heats up. Euronews is now following with live broadcasting from the Larnaca airport. Check the Cypriot government channels, CYBC 1 and 2. Channel 1 has a cooking show and channel 2 cartoons. BBC World now onsite. Loses its signal briefly but CYBC1 has live coverage set up. There's a lot of speculation and conflicting info. It's an Egyptian domestic flight. No, it actually originated in Saudi Arabia and was due to finish in Cairo after its Alexandria touchdown. There are 82 people aboard or 60, the hijacker asked to go to Turkey or to Cyprus. Euronews has some painful periods of dead air (though probably less painful than the grating voice of their usual female announcer) while BBC fills the time with chat and bits of informed opinion. Do wonder about the quality of the opinion when one of the commentators says "This is a part of the world where they do know what they're doing." Hard not to think of the shambolic Cypriot aeronautical industry.
Leave the coverage to join J for coffee jas the plane sits on the tarmac. Egyptian passengers allowed to leave but crew and some passengers still aboard and presumably negotiations taking place. There is mention of the hijacker having an ex wife living in Cyprus, and also of requests for female political prisoners to be released. When we return after coffee and a stop to pick up a few groceries - chicken, wine, mushrooms, garlic, raw peanuts - there doesn't seem to have been much progress. The ex wife has apparently been taken to the airport, but her identity is being protected. With good reason - she's probably dying of embarrassment. By mid-afternoon the last hostages have been released, the hijacker arrested and the "suicide belt" found to be fake. And We're free to be pleased that we fly out of Larnaca airport two weeks from today rather than today, when the airport was evacuated and all flights diverted, delayed or cancelled.
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