Internet reacts to fearless Brit who requested airplane hijacker in ‘suicide vest’ for a selfie

Not many people can wholeheartedly say they’d know how they’d react if they thought they were staring death in the face.

But for Ben Innes, he did what most of the population wouldn’t even dream of. He said “cheese.”

Call him brave, call him stupid but the Leeds lad will go down in history as the guy who posed with a plane hijacker wearing a makeshift suicide vest, in what he thought were his final moments.

It comes after he found himself in the midst of a sky-high drama when EgyptAir flight MS181 was commandeered by Seif Eldin Mustafa in 2016.

Donning what seemed like a bomb vest, Mustafa forced the plane away from its route to Cairo, landing instead at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, releasing all but three passengers and four crew members.

Held hostage, Ben, then 26 didn’t freak out but figuring he had “nothing to lose,” he did ask for a selfie. You can see a video of the moment here.

“I am not sure why I did it, I just threw caution to the wind,” he later told the Sun.

“I figured if his bomb was real I’d nothing to lose anyway, so I 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.”

He added: “It has to be the best selfie ever.”

Back home, Ben’s mates were stunned by a message boasting about the ordeal, with him messaging: “You know your boy doesn’t f*** about. Turn on the news lad! ! ! ” One gobsmacked friend replied, “Wtf? Is that a bomb attached to the guys chest? You ok? Let us know when you get off.”

Ben’s flatmate Chris Tundogan told The Mail: “I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he’s not afraid to shy away from anything.

“I find it pretty mental but that’s just Ben I guess! ”

Mustafa – whose bomb vest was fake – eventually gave himself up after roughly five hours, releasing Ben and the other hostages.

Cypriot state media said he was asking for the release of some female prisoners in his native Egypt.

He was later extradited to Egypt and sentenced to life in prison.

Ben’s selfie soon did the rounds on social media and shot him to international fame.

And now Ben has gone viral again in a post on the interestingasf**k Reddit group attracting 96k upvotes and over 1,500 comments.

One wrote: “Honestly, why the f**k not at that point?”

Another added: “If I’m going down, by God I’m going to get some likes for it.”

“That’s actually super smart. He can send the picture to the authorities, and he builds rapport with the terrorist, humanizing himself and weakening the terrorist’s resolve. They’re less likely to want to hurt you if they like you,” commented another.

While one wrote: “Hey boss? Yeah, gonna be late to work. There’s an angry Egyptian here wearing explosives. What? You want me to take a picture with him to prove it? Sure.”

Another simply wrote: “What do we say to death?….Cheese!!”

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