Passengers on a Flydubai flight helped subdue a pilot who attacked a colleague and said some crew members demanded his release

Passengers on a Flydubai flight who helped subdue a pilot who attacked a colleague said some crew members demanded his release, sparking an argument, the New York Post reported.

On Wednesday, a Flydubai plane en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv signaled an emergency and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The airline later confirmed that a fight broke out between the pilots during the flight. Later, information appeared in the media that one of the pilots had wounded the other with a knife and was trying to cause a plane crash.

“They (the crew members - ed.) asked us to untie the terrorist, we didn’t know why,” banker Cvika Manes, who helped bring the pilot under control, told the publication.

According to another passenger, real estate worker Daniel Schlichter, suspicions arose against some crew members because of this. A dispute ensued, but the passengers who neutralized the pilot categorically refused to let him go.

"They said, 'You're not god, you won't kill him'... We didn't want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us," Manes said.

Schlichter noted that they wanted to keep the pilot alive for the investigation. He said that the crew members demanded to be left alone near the cockpit, stating that they were in charge on the plane. However, passengers feared that there were accomplices of the attacker among the crew, so they placed the flight attendants in the middle of the plane, declaring that they were now in charge. They then placed a "big guy" to guard the cabin, Manes added.

Crew members later realized they were dealing with a "special case" and began helping passengers by handing out blankets and water, Schlichter said.