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 Flydubai 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.
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.
What did the eyewitnesses tell?
A woman named Yasmin told that her daughter was also on the flight going from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The daughter called him and told him 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.
After this the aircraft issued an emergency signal 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.
Passengers told local media that they feared for their lives when the plane started descending during the incident.
An Israeli official told news agency Reuters on condition of anonymity that after a scuffle between the pilots, both had sent emergency signals. However, it was not immediately clear whether either pilot had sent the emergency signal intentionally or not.
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, which put the entire Middle East on high alert.
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.
According to the Jerusalem Post report, the Israeli Air Force had raised its alert level in preparation to deal with a possible emergency.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that the incident is not being considered as hijacking.
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." The spokesperson said updates will be issued as more information becomes available.
“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the spokesperson said.
flydubai operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv. This route is quite popular among Israeli citizens.
