A flight from Dubai to Israel landed in Saudi Arabia after an alleged fight between the pilots.
An Israeli passenger on board the flight told reporters that the passengers helped restrain and tie up one of the pilots after the crew asked for help.
This flight of Fly Dubai had left on Wednesday morning. According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane issued an emergency code about two hours after takeoff.
After a few minutes the plane changed it to hijacking code. However, later it was again changed to normal emergency signal.
Anonymous Israeli officials told the media that one pilot stabbed another pilot. According to officials, either the pilot wanted to hijack the plane or crash it. However, let us tell you that the motive of the attacking pilot is not clear yet and we have not yet received any official statement in this regard.
A passenger on board the flight told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the plane lost control and began a "rapid fall" about an hour before the scheduled landing.
This passenger named Dalia Spiegel told the newspaper that "suddenly scary screams started echoing throughout the plane." "Three to five people then entered the cockpit", overpowered the attacker, and began treating the injured pilot.
Spiegel said, "We thought the situation was under control and we continued the flight. Gradually information about what happened in the cockpit began to emerge."
He said these “young people” then took over the responsibility and started helping the passengers. Meanwhile the plane changed its course and went for landing in Saudi Arabia.
“Right now we are all in the terminal and medical teams are examining us,” he said.
In a video shared with Israeli media, a witness aboard the plane was reportedly seen saying that "an assailant with a knife" attacked a pilot.
This video has been verified by BBC Verify. There were no signs of AI tampering and the video did not appear to have been posted online before the incident.
In the video, the person sitting on the plane seat can be heard talking to the camera. "We took control of the flight and one of the pilots was attacked by an attacker with a knife," he says.
He reports that the alleged attacker was ejected from the cockpit and everything is now "fine."
He says, "One pilot is seriously injured."
"A second pilot is also injured, but is in good condition to land the plane. He has two crew members with him. We made sure the doors were closed. I love you all and everything is OK."
He further says that the suspect involved in the incident has been arrested.
According to Israeli media, there was a fight between the pilot and co-pilot during the flight. After this the plane sent an emergency signal and for some time there was a fear of hijacking.
Flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. There were about 150 to 180 people on board, most of whom were Israeli citizens.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane first sent squawk code 7700 about two hours after takeoff. This is a sign of a general emergency.
A few minutes later the aircraft sent code 7500, indicating illegal interference or hijacking of the aircraft. Later the plane again sent code 7700.
Flydubai company has said that both the captain and the first officer were injured in the incident and have been admitted to the hospital.
A statement issued by the company said that the Air Traffic Control Center had received a signal for an emergency landing at 8.44 pm local time.
An hour later the plane landed safely on the runway.
Passengers told Israeli media that a pilot was wounded by a knife before being diverted to Saudi Arabia.
A passenger named Elmog Itali told the media that the two pilots who took over the plane were relief pilots who were to operate the subsequent flight.
“One of them was a British pilot,” Itali said. He said the second pilot was European, but did not reveal his nationality.
Itali said that it was not known what exactly happened in the cockpit, but the relief pilots were able to stabilize the plane and land it in Saudi Arabia.
A woman named Yasmin told that her daughter was also on the flight going from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The daughter called them and told them that she heard screaming on the plane. A pilot was calling for help.
"The plane started losing control. Everyone started screaming. They thought they would not survive," Yasmin told AP news agency.
Speaking to Reuters, Yasmin said that two other pilots took control of the plane. Meanwhile, other passengers ran towards a person who had a knife in his hand.
"A very serious accident was averted," one of the Israeli officials told Channel 12.
'The Jerusalem Post' also quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that "a major tragedy was narrowly averted."
According to data from Flightradar24, the plane suddenly changed direction over Saudi Arabia and began a rapid descent. The plane descended 17,000 feet, or more than 5,000 meters, in less than two minutes.
According to local time, at 8.21 am the plane was flying at an altitude of 34000 feet.
10 minutes after suddenly coming down, the plane continued sending emergency signals for about seven minutes.
At 05:40 the flight briefly entered Jordanian airspace. After a few minutes it again turned towards Saudi Arabia and then started descending.
The plane was supposed to land at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, but it landed at Tabuk Airport in north-eastern Saudi Arabia.
An Israeli official told news agency Reuters on condition of anonymity that after a scuffle between the pilots, both had sent emergency signals.
Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israeli broadcaster N12News, wrote on Twitter that it appeared there was an in-flight scuffle between the two pilots, prompting a high alert across the Middle East.
Reposting his comment, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the incident had put people and security agencies on high alert throughout the Middle East, especially in Israel. He said that it is good that the matter did not become more serious than this.
Earlier, three Israeli security officials had told Reuters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the flight with officials.
The Israeli military said in a statement that Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir assessed the situation with the air force commander and other military officials.
A flydubai spokesperson confirmed that the flight "encountered an incident en route...Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities."
flydubai operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv. This route is quite popular among Israeli citizens.
