BRITON WHO TOOK SELFIE WITH LOVE-LORN HIJACKER CLAIMS "IT WAS BEST SELFIE EVER"

Ben Innes (right) is pictured with the alleged hijacker. Credit: Twitter

A Briton who posed for a photo with the alleged EgyptAir hijacker has said he was just "trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity".

The photograph, widely shared on Twitter, shows a man - named in reports as Ben Innes - with a broad smile, standing next to a man who has what looks like an explosives belt around his waist.

Four Britons were on the plane when it was forced to divert to Cyprus due to a man wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.

Egypt's interior ministry identified the hijacker as 58-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa

Speaking to The Sun, Mr Innes said: "I'm not sure why I did it, I just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity.

"I figured if his bomb was real I'd nothing lose anyway, so took a chance to get a closer look at it.

"I got one of the cabin crew to translate for me and asked him if I could do a selfie with him.

"He just shrugged OK so I stood by him and smiled for the camera while a stewardess did the snap. It has to be the best selfie ever."

A man was seen climbing out the cockpit window as the plane sat on the tarmac. Credit: Reuters

The Sun said Mr Innes, believed to be a health and safety auditor from Leeds, texted his mother Pauline, telling the paper: "My mum was obviously frantic with worry and kept telling me not to do anything to draw attention to myself. I didn't know how to tell her I'd already done a selfie with the hijacker."

Flight MS181 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo when it was forced to land at Larnaca airport on the Mediterranean island on Tuesday morning.

Most of those on board were freed shortly after the plane landed, but the hijacker held seven people hostage for a number of hours before the incident came to a peaceful conclusion.

The alleged hijacker was arrested following the incident and authorities confirmed the suicide belt was fake.

The incident came five months after 224 people were killed when a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft in October, with so-called Islamic State claiming responsibility.

Women and children were told they could leave the plane first. Credit: Reuters