Israeli passengers foil suspected bid to crash Tel Aviv-bound jet
Copilot allegedly stabbed captain mid-flight, all 174 on board home safe
A group of Israeli passengers stormed the cockpit of a flydubai jet bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday and overpowered the copilot. Israeli officials say he had stabbed the captain and was trying to crash the plane, which was carrying 174 people, most of them Israelis.
The Boeing 737 MAX was flying from Dubai to Ben Gurion Airport. It sent out a hijack alert and plunged 14,125 feet in 29 seconds, according to Flightradar24 data. The Israeli Air Force scrambled fighter jets.
Off-duty flydubai pilots travelling as passengers took the controls and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, in north-western Saudi Arabia. The passengers, 27 of them children, were treated by Saudi medical staff and flown home to Israel that evening.
Israeli officials have described the incident as a suspected attempted terrorist attack.
An Israeli official told NBC News that the copilot is believed to be an Omani citizen and is in custody in Saudi Arabia. The official said the preliminary Israeli investigation strongly points to an attempted terrorist attack. No country or terror group has claimed responsibility.
The injured captain is Indian national Smit Machchhar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman said that after Captain Machchhar had been stabbed and seriously wounded, he managed to release the cockpit door from the floor. That allowed several Israelis to burst in and subdue the attacker.
“He is a true hero,” Netanyahu said, adding that the captain had saved the lives of 174 people.
India’s embassy in Riyadh says Captain Machchhar is in stable condition in hospital in Tabuk.
Passenger Tzvika Manes told Channel 12 that a crew member entered the cockpit and pulled the copilot out, and that he and two other Israelis then pinned the man down and tied him up with airline headphones.
Israeli dentist Dr Shota Musayev told The Times of Israel that he ran to the cockpit about ten seconds after he heard screaming. He said he was the only doctor on board, and that he stopped the captain’s heavy bleeding and stabilised his blood pressure.
After the plane landed in Tabuk, Saudi medical teams attended to the passengers at the airport. Video showed Saudi medical staff moving among the passengers, checking their vital signs and taking blood pressure readings. Those who needed further care were treated individually.
Passengers have said they were well looked after. One passenger, identified as Polo, said there was some fear on board when they learnt the plane was landing in Saudi Arabia, but that it did not last long.
“They welcomed us in a very, very nice way,” he said. He added that everyone was given medical treatment, food and drinks, and that the children were given sweets.
Saudi Arabia refused an Israeli request to send a military or civilian aircraft to collect the passengers. Some passengers at first refused to board another flydubai plane. After about eight hours on the ground, they flew home on a replacement flydubai aircraft whose crew had been checked by Israeli security agencies.
When they arrived at Ben Gurion, Magen David Adom paramedics examined the passengers. A man in his early 50s was taken to hospital in mild condition with an upper-body injury.
Netanyahu met one of the passengers who had subdued the attacker, Yaniv Hayun, at the airport.
In a statement, flydubai said the reasons and motives behind the incident were unknown and would be the subject of a formal investigation. The airline urged all parties to avoid “premature speculation”. It has suspended all flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has told its diplomats around the world that the incident was an attempted terrorist attack against Israelis, the United Arab Emirates and the Abraham Accords. Israel is also set to expand security checks on pilots flying for foreign airlines.
A fellow pilot has described the copilot as a religious extremist who joined flydubai eight months ago. The claim has not been independently verified.
An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that a “major disaster was narrowly avoided”.
The incident has quickly become an issue in Israel’s election campaign, less than four weeks before the 27 October vote.
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