&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "What happened on Flydubai flight to Israel? Passenger recounts chilling details")
A passenger detailed what happened aboard the Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Israel on Wednesday (Sep 30), when one of the pilots tried to hijack the flight with the intention of crashing it. The Boeing 737 MAX was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after the situation turned scary mid-flight. Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the incident as an attempted “terrorist” attack. The plane’s captain and co-pilot both sustained injuries and were transported to a hospital. The pilot who stabbed his co-pilot has been arrested and is being interrogated by the Saudi authorities.
What happened on Flydubai flight?
According to an AFP report, citing a passenger on board the flight, one of the pilots attacked his co-pilot and tried to crash the plane to carry out a “suicide attack”. Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said that the aircraft was “pretty much out of control” when the stabbing happened, as the plane was flying over Jordan on its path from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
“The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters via a speakerphone held up by her mother at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
Flightradar website data showed that the aircraft suddenly lost altitude mid-flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 0521 GMT to less than 17,000 feet at 0522 GMT.
“It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him,” she added.
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“There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do,” the passenger said.
The low-cost carrier had earlier said flight FZ 1073 “experienced an incident while en route. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk Airport (TUU) and all passengers are safe and accounted for”.
Earlier, Ohayon's mother, Yasmin Abukasis, told AFP that her daughter called her from Saudi Arabia: “She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting.” She added that another passenger went to the cockpit “and saw a lot of blood. She started screaming ‘come help’ and some people went in and caught the guy.”
“All the while, the plane started going down very fast. People thought they were going to die,” she added.
After landing in Saudi Arabia, an Israeli passenger aboard the flight said that the passengers “were very welcomed” in Saudi Arabia.
Altercation between pilots
According to Israeli media reports, a fight broke out between the pilots, which reportedly triggered a distress signal to be activated.
Squawk code 7700, a general international emergency signal, was initially transmitted before switching to 7500, which signals hijacking and unlawful interference. The plane later went back to the original distress code.
The reports added that passengers on board stepped in to separate the two pilots. Media reports showed photos of a passenger with a bloodied T-shirt.
According to reports, two other pilots were among the passengers, who then took over the controls and carried out the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Disclaimer: WION cannot independently verify the videos or the claims.
