TEL AVIV, Sept 30: One of the pilots of an Israel-bound flydubai flight tried to kil*l his co-pilot before the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a passenger’s mother told AFP.
Yasmin Abukasis, whose daughter Miryam was on the flight to attend a service for her brother, who was kil*led in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, said her daughter told her by telephone after landing that everyone “thought they were going to die.”
“She said one pilot tried to ki*ll the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting, ‘Help, help!’ And one woman with three children went to the cockpit and saw a lot of blood,” she said as she waited at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
The emergency landing of the Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight in Saudi Arabia was prompted by what Israel’s far-right national security minister described as a “terrorist” who wanted to crash the plane and ki*ll Israelis.
“The naive notion that our enemies cherish life and that we should pity them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board,” Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement.
The flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to land in Saudi Arabia after what the airline described only as an “incident.” Flight FZ 1073 landed safely at Tabuk Airport, and all passengers were safe and accounted for, the low-cost carrier said.
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“Flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv experienced an incident while en route. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk Airport (TUU) and all passengers are safe and accounted for,” a flydubai spokesperson said in a statement.
Israeli media reported that an altercation had broken out between the pilots, apparently prompting the activation of a distress signal.
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 reported that the Israeli military had scrambled fighter jets after fears of a possible hijacking emerged. The possibility of a hijacking was later ruled out, according to the reports.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had held consultations over the incident and was “monitoring developments.”
“The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” his office said in a statement.
Neither flydubai nor authorities in the countries involved have provided details about what happened aboard the aircraft.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “checking” the reports.
Bloodied T-shirt
Israeli media, citing anonymous sources, reported that passengers had intervened to separate the pilots during their altercation. They also published photos showing a passenger wearing a bloodied T-shirt.
Channel 12 reported that authorities were investigating whether one of the pilots had attempted to crash the aircraft in a possible suicide attempt, with the other pilot apparently intervening to prevent it.
The reports could not immediately be independently verified.
According to data from Flightradar, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 05:21 GMT to below 17,000 feet at 05:22 GMT.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions across the Middle East following the regional war that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
It also comes ahead of closely contested Israeli elections scheduled for the end of October.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said there were “indications” that Israel’s enemies could attempt to carry out an attack ahead of the elections. The opposition leader accused him of “fear-mongering.”
