A Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after one of its pilots allegedly attacked the other and attempted to crash the aircraft, according to a passenger on board.
Flight FZ 1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it landed at Tabuk Airport at 9:45 am (0645 GMT). The airport operator said the captain and co-pilot were found to have injuries and were taken to hospital.
Flydubai said the aircraft had “experienced an incident while en route” and had landed safely in Tabuk, adding that all passengers were safe and accounted for.
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the aircraft was “pretty much out of control” when the stabbing took place over Jordan on the flight’s route from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
“The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters by speakerphone, with her mother, Yasmin Abukasis, waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
“It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him,” Ohayon said.
“There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do.”
Abukasis told AFP that her daughter had called her after landing in Saudi Arabia and said one pilot had tried to kill the other with a knife.
“She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting,” Abukasis said, adding that another passenger who went to the cockpit saw “a lot of blood”.
She said passengers had intervened to separate the pilots while the aircraft was rapidly losing altitude.
“All the while, the plane started going down very fast. People thought they were going to die,” she said.
Several Israeli media reports had earlier said a fight broke out between the pilots and a distress signal was activated. Two other pilots who were travelling as passengers on the aircraft reportedly took over the controls and carried out the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Ohayon also said two other pilots were on the plane and took charge, diverting it to Saudi Arabia.
According to Flightradar data cited by AFP, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 0521 GMT to less than 17,000 feet at 0522 GMT.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli military had scrambled fighter jets after fears of a possible hijacking, but that possibility was later dismissed. The military told AFP it was “checking” the reports.
Neither flydubai nor authorities in the countries involved immediately provided details about what happened inside the cockpit or the identities of the pilots. Some Israeli media reports said one pilot was Omani and the other Emirati.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations over the incident, his office said, adding that the situation was under control and that measures were being taken to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel.
The incident also drew a statement from Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who described the person allegedly responsible as a “terrorist” who had intended to crash the aircraft and kill the Israelis on board. His statement did not provide evidence for the claim.
Abukasis said her daughter was travelling to Israel to attend a service for her brother, who was killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East following the regional war that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and weeks before Israel’s elections scheduled for the end of October.
(With inputs from AFP)