Passengers describe dramatic scenes on board after cockpit attack

A woman who was on the plane with her four daughters told the Times of Israel newspaper that there were "two miracles": that there were Israelis on board who heroically went into the cockpit. And that there were other pilots on board who were able to land the plane.

Netanyahu met a passenger at Tel Aviv airport who had forced his way into the cockpit. The US broadcaster CNN published a video of the meeting in which Yaniv Hayun, wearing blood-stained clothing, describes how he and others stopped the attacker. When he got into the cockpit, the attacker was working on the on-board instruments. According to Hayun, he suspected that the man wanted to make the plane unusable.

The Israeli said he put the attacker in a stranglehold and dragged him out of the cockpit. Then - the aircraft was descending at the time - he grabbed the controls in the cockpit and began to pull back the levers. Then a pilot took over. When asked how he knew what to do, Hayun referred to a TV documentary series about aviation accidents that he had seen.

Assaf Rajuan was also on board the plane. He told CNN that the attacker was overpowered "very quickly" by a group of passengers and the flight crew. "There was no real fight, no fight, nothing like that."

Another passenger, Hila Gaier, described the scenes on board the plane as a “nightmare.” There was “complete chaos,” she told Kan 11 Radio. The power, communication systems and all screens were down. The plane was full of “terrifying screams.” "You have no idea what's happening and it just doesn't stop."