UPDATE: Israeli officials report that the flight was diverted over an attempted hijacking in a “jihadist terrorist attack” that reportedly aimed to crash the plane with everyone on board.
Original story below:
A flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for an emergency landing after a “brawl” between the pilots.
Off-duty pilots on board the Boeing 737 saved over 170 Israeli passengers when they stepped up to take control on the bloodied flight deck as other passengers ran towards a man who had a knife.
The BBC reports the Flydubai plane departed Dubai International Airport early in the day but signalled an emergency code two hours into the journey, flight tracking website Flightradar24 says.
Minutes later it switched to a code used to report a hijacking but was later returned to the general emergency signal.
AP reports passengers on the plane told Israel’s Channel 12 by phone they heard shouts from other travelers in the forward cabin during the altercation, saying the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.
The Flydubai plane is now known to have descended 17,400 feet in just over two minutes during the flight deck fracas.
Israeli fighter jets were launched after the emergency signal was sent, a military spokesperson said, per a CNN report.
Flight FZ1073 was due to land at Ben-Gurion Airport but instead landed at Tabuk Airport in northeastern Saudi Arabia.
Emirati government-owned Flydubai has confirmed the incident took place.
An Israeli passenger on board has told journalists the crew asked for help and that passengers then helped tackle one of the pilots and tie him down.
A fight between the pilots of a Flydubai passenger plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv reportedly triggered a hijacking code before the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia. (Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu via Getty)
In an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, a female passenger described the “very stressful” moment people on board realised the plane was rapidly descending.
“We understood the pilots lost control,” she says, recounting terrified screams from passengers.
She told the outlet one pilot suffered serious stab wounds before the attacker could be dragged away.
“There are people here with shirts covered in blood,” she said adding: “Now we are fine and want to return home.”
UPDATE:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had arrested the offending pilot who stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane full of Israelis.
Netanyahu said passengers and crew members on the flight managed to subdue the attacker, preventing a “major disaster.”: