A flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia after issuing a distress signal in what appeared to be a hijacking attempt on Wednesday. The Flydubai flight FZ1073 was diverted as it flew from Dubai to Tel Aviv through Jordanian airspace, prompting Israel to deploy warplanes, reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one of the pilots had stabbed the other and then tried to crash the plane.
He added that Israel was preparing for other “potential threats” after the incident. There has been no official confirmation of a hijacking attempt, however. Flydubai said an altercation had occurred on the flight deck and that all passengers were safe and accounted for.
The plane was secured by on-duty crew travelling onboard, it added. At Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, where the plane landed, officials said both the plane’s captain and the first officer had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries. Both were taken to hospital, according to a statement from the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz international airport in Tabuk, carried by the Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television.
The UAE has become a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020. Here’s what we know about what happened. Footage taken onboard the plane appears to show the captain of the aircraft lying on the cabin floor with several stab wounds, and a passenger with a bloody wound to the head.
In another video, passengers weep and cry out in distress as the aircraft shakes. Yasmin Abukasis, the mother of one of the passengers onboard, said her daughter Miriam thought she was going to die. Flight tracking data indicated the plane descended about 14,000 feet (4,300 metres) in less than 30 seconds about two and a half hours after leaving Dubai.
Flightradar24 said on X that an initial general emergency signal designated by code 7700 was issued at about and was later changed to another emergency signal with code 7500 declaring “unlawful interference”. Passenger Dalia Shpigel told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that some people seated towards the front of the plane broke into the cockpit after the plane began to descend and they realised something was wrong. Netanyahu said Saudi authorities were interrogating the pilot accused of carrying out the attack.
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