Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv lands in Saudi Arabia after a fight between pilots

A passenger flight of flydubai going from Dubai to Tel Aviv was suddenly diverted towards Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning and had to land there.

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.

According to data from Flightradar24, the plane suddenly changed direction over Saudi Arabia and started descending rapidly. The plane descended 17,000 feet or more than 5,000 meters in less than two minutes.

After this the plane 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 when the plane started descending during the incident, they started fearing for their lives.

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 N12 News, wrote on Twitter that it appeared there was a scuffle between the two pilots during the flight, after which the entire Middle East was put 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 report of Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Air Force had increased its alert level in preparation to deal with a possible emergency.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that this 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 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 very popular among Israeli citizens.