A flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia after issuing a misery sign in what seemed to be a hijacking try on Wednesday.
The Flydubai flight FZ1073 was diverted because it flew from Dubai to Tel Aviv by way of Jordanian airspace, prompting Israel to deploy warplanes, the Reuters information company reported.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned one of the pilots had stabbed the other after which tried to crash the airplane. He added that Israel was getting ready for different “potential threats” after the incident.
There was no official affirmation of a hijacking try, nevertheless.
Flydubai mentioned an altercation had occurred on the flight deck and that every one passengers had been secure and accounted for. The airplane was secured by on-duty crew travelling onboard, it added.
“At this early stage, the underlying causes and motives behind this occasion are unknown and stay topic to a proper investigation,” a Flydubai spokesperson mentioned in a press release. “We urge all events to chorus from untimely hypothesis whereas authorities collect the info.”
At Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, the place the airplane landed, officers mentioned each the airplane’s captain and first officer had been taken to hospital after sustaining accidents, based on a press release from the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz worldwide airport in Tabuk, carried by the Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya tv.
The UAE has turn into a preferred vacation vacation spot for Israeli vacationers because the international locations normalised ties in 2020. Right here’s what we find out about what occurred.
What occurred?
Footage taken onboard the plane seems to indicate the captain of the plane mendacity on the cabin ground with a number of stab wounds, and a passenger with a bloody wound to the top.
In one other video, passengers weep and cry out in misery because the plane shakes.
Yasmin Abukasis, the mom of one of many passengers onboard, mentioned her daughter Miriam thought she was going to die. “The airplane began to lose management,” she informed journalists at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, earlier than different pilots onboard took management of the plane.
Flight monitoring knowledge indicated the airplane descended about 14,000 toes (4,300 metres) in lower than 30 seconds about two and a half hours after leaving Dubai. Flightradar24 mentioned on X that an preliminary basic emergency sign designated by code 7700 was issued at about 05:31 GMT and was later modified to a different emergency sign with code 7500 declaring “illegal interference”.
Passenger Dalia Shpigel informed Israeli newspaper Haaretz that some folks seated in the direction of the entrance of the airplane broke into the cockpit after the airplane started to descend and so they realised one thing was incorrect.
“An hour earlier than touchdown, we felt that there was no management over the airplane, that it was beginning to leap,” she mentioned. “The blokes noticed that the airplane had begun to dive and broke into the cockpit.”
Netanyahu mentioned he later spoke to one of many Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit and overpowered one of many pilots who was reportedly making an attempt to sabotage the plane’s methods.
“I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and braveness,” Netanyahu mentioned in a press release. “They saved many lives and prevented a significant catastrophe.”
Passenger Yitzhak Lieber, reportedly one of many males who overpowered the co-pilot, despatched a video to his household from the airplane, worldwide media reported. In it, he says: “There’s a pilot who was critically injured, they’ve evacuated him. We overpowered the terrorist and he’s tied up.”
The largely Israeli passengers had been later flown to Tel Aviv on a substitute flight, Tabuk airport confirmed.
The Occasions of Israel reported that Netanyahu was at Ben Gurion’s Terminal 1 constructing to greet the passengers after they lastly arrived in a while Wednesday shortly earlier than 4pm GMT. Households had been ready in a delegated space arrange for them within the home arrivals corridor whereas safety officers ready to interview them.
Timeline of occasions (GMT)
03:05 – Flight FZ1073 takes off from Dubai05:21 – Altitude fluctuations start05:22 – Plane drops greater than 14,000ft in lower than 30 seconds05:31 – Sign from plane modifications to 7700 (basic emergency)05:38 – Sign modifications to 7500 (illegal interference)06:45 – Plane lands at Tabuk regional airport
What will we find out about what prompted the incident?
The motive of the obvious assault was not instantly clear. Netanyahu mentioned Saudi authorities had been interrogating the pilot accused of finishing up the assault.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned preliminary data indicated the attacker supposed to crash the airplane, killing everybody onboard, calling the incident an “tried jihadist terror assault”.
An Israeli official who spoke to Reuters on situation of anonymity recognized the attacker as an Omani nationwide.
Israel doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia or Oman, sustaining a coverage of occasional dialogue by way of casual channels. Muscat has chosen to not be part of different international locations within the area in normalising ties with Israel over Palestinian rights. Saudi Arabia has made normalisation of Israeli ties conditional on Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state.
Israel is days away from marking the anniversary of the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, by which about 1,200 folks had been killed and which triggered Israel’s genocidal struggle on Gaza that has killed greater than 75,000 Palestinians – largely girls and kids – together with about 1,400 since a United States-brokered “ceasefire” supposedly took impact in October 2025.
Was a second Flydubai flight diverted?
No. A second Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, FZ1081, was erroneously reported in Hebrew media to have rotated, based on The Occasions of Israel.
The information outlet added that the error appeared to have been attributable to a glitch on flight-tracking websites.
The airplane didn’t problem any emergency sign, and it was reported to be on its course to Tel Aviv with out disruptions.
What has the response been?
Reuters reported that Netanyahu has ordered authorities to “ramp up” safety on Israeli carriers and non-Israeli carriers, citing a spokesperson for the prime minister’s workplace.
Opposition chief Yair Lapid claimed Netanyahu’s political allies had tried to go off the incident because the fulfilment of warnings a day earlier a couple of attainable assault on Israel forward of its legislative election scheduled for October 27.
“The warning about exercise overseas is particular, has been in place for greater than two years, and has nothing to do with planes or something resembling what occurred this morning,” Lapid wrote on X.
Talking of Netanyahu, Lapid mentioned: “He’s making an attempt to hitch a pathetic trip on heroic Israelis who prevented a catastrophe that he (as soon as once more) wasn’t ready for.”
