Flydubai Plane Remains at Saudi Airport Following Cockpit Stabbing Incident

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. The plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv that made an emergency landing because of an internal personnel incident on board on September 30 has been at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia for a fourth day, a source in a Middle Eastern air traffic control service told TASS on Saturday.

"The plane on board of which a cockpit incident occurred and which made an emergency landing en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv for that reason is still at the airport of Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk," the source said. On the day when that incident took place passengers from the troubled flight were taken to Tel Aviv on board another plane while the aircraft in question still stays where it landed, he recalled. The source found it difficult to say when the plane could possibly return. "It seems everything will depend on how the probe into the incident unfolds," he noted.

On September 30, a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport following a security incident. On October 1, the Saudi Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the incident was caused by the stabbing of the flight captain by his co-pilot which left the two of them with injuries of varying severity.

Both pilots departed for Abu Dhabi with an Emirati security escort once their condition had stabilized, while the other six crew members had earlier safely returned to Dubai, the Saudi ministry specified. The UAE has continued to look into the reasons and circumstances behind the incident, including operational aspects of it and safety measures. UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi has said the incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack.