&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "How a 6-year-old's bathroom request helped avert disaster on flydubai flight to Tel Aviv")
A six-year-old girl's request to use the lavatory put her and her mother in a position to raise the alarm during an attack in the cockpit of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday (Sep 30). Nina Manes asked her mother, Tali, to take her to the toilet just as a co-pilot began stabbing the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar. Tali Manes heard shouting from the cockpit and called for help, which sent cabin crew rushing to the scene.
"There was blood all over the cockpit and very, very sharp fighting moves," she told Israel's Channel 12. She said she shouted that the pilot was being stabbed, but at first people did not grasp what she meant. Her husband, Zvika Manes, said the cries of his daughters as the aircraft nose-dived pushed him to run into the cockpit. He recalled them saying they did not want to die.
Passengers described the plane dropping thousands of feet as a group of them overpowered the co-pilot and tried to help the captain. One passenger, blood running down his face, posted a plea on social media during the struggle, saying the attackers had been subdued and the plane was approaching landing.
Yasmin Abu Kasis, whose daughter Miriam was on board, told news agency The Associated Press that her daughter heard screaming and saw a man with a weapon force the pilot to the floor. She said the aircraft began to lose control and passengers screamed. Machchhar, bloodied and on the floor, managed to press the release that opened the cockpit door so others could get in.
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A passenger identified as Meital said her husband rushed to the front after hearing someone shout "stabbing," and joined other Israelis in subduing the attacker. She said there was a great deal of blood and that she was too distressed to speak easily.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said he will recommend Yaniv Hayoun, Tzvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan for the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism. Four people in total are reportedly being recommended. Among them are a plumber who held the attacker in a chokehold and a dentist who gave first aid to the pilot.
Authorities are investigating. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed the pilot underwent jihadist indoctrination.
