Cyprus on Tuesday closed Larnaca airport after a hijacker seized an Egyptian airliner and forced it to land on the eastern Mediterranean island, airport officials said.

Flights to Larnaca in the south were diverted to the Paphos airport in the west, the officials said, after Egyptian civil aviation said the hijacker had threatened to detonate an explosives belt on the EgyptAir plane.

READ: EgyptAir hijacker 'frees all on board except four foreigners, crew'

READ: Hijacker diverts Egypt Air to Cyprus