Flydubai flight passengers say pilot's attacker asked to kill him

Passengers on an Emirati airline Flydubai plane that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after an emergency on board said that the attacker on the pilot asked them to kill him. They announced this during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, TASS reports.

According to the office of the head of the Israeli government, Netanyahu received in his Jerusalem office several passengers from this flight who helped prevent the disaster. On the morning of September 30, the plane was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv. In the area of ​​the Saudi-Jordanian border, the plane descended sharply and gave distress and hijack signals.

According to the latest version, the cause of the incident was an attack by the co-pilot on the aircraft commander. He stabbed him. The passengers managed to neutralize the attacker, after which the plane was landed at the nearest airport in northern Saudi Arabia. On the same day, all passengers reached Israel. None of them died, and both pilots were hospitalized on the spot.

“We tied up the pilot who stabbed him with a headphone wire. He repeated: “Kill me,” meaning that he had failed the task and preferred to die,” Netanyahu’s office cites the account of the participants in the events. The names of the passengers who reported this were not specified.

According to the statement, the meeting with the Prime Minister was attended by Yaniv Hayun, Or Pardilov, Dr. Shota Musaev and his wife Segalit. Netanyahu praised their actions and announced that next year they will take part in the traditional torch-lighting ceremony that takes place in Israel to mark Independence Day.