Israelis help subdue pilot on diverted flydubai flight

Israeli passengers helped overpower a crew member on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Israeli security officials suspect the crew member was trying to crash the plane.

The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children, and landed in Saudi Arabia after a physical altercation between the pilots set off an emergency signal. The signal initially raised fears of a hijacking and led Israel to scramble fighter jets. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 landed at Tabuk, in north-western Saudi Arabia, shortly before 10am Israel time, which was 5pm AEST.

In a statement, flydubai said “all passengers are safe and accounted for”.

An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that a “major disaster was narrowly avoided”.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet increasingly believe the incident was intended as an act of terror. A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that the copilot is being investigated amid growing indications that he tried to take over the aircraft in order to crash it.

Other explanations are also being examined, including a mental health episode that was not nationalistic in nature.

Passengers have described their terror as the plane suddenly dropped. Flight tracking data shows the aircraft fell 17,400 feet in less than two minutes.

Speaking to Channel 12, a passenger named Meital said her husband ran to the front of the plane when someone shouted that there had been a stabbing, and that “along with other Israelis they neutralised the terrorist”.

In a video filmed for his family, another passenger said he had helped subdue the attacker and said the man had been tied up. A third passenger told i24NEWS that a doctor and a nurse on board gave first aid to the injured pilot.

Video published by Hebrew-language media, reportedly filmed as the plane came in to land, shows passengers clapping and singing.

The aircraft first broadcast the code for a general emergency, then switched to the code signalling unlawful interference, before switching back to the original code.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz held an urgent security meeting.

Netanyahu’s office later said the incident was “under control”.

Saudi Arabia’s leading airport operator said the captain and copilot were both injured and taken to hospital.

Several details remain unconfirmed. Reports in Hebrew-language media have named the pilots’ nationalities, but these reports contradict each other. Israeli, Saudi and Emirati authorities have not yet issued an official statement on what happened on board.

Channel 12 has also reported, without confirmation, that a second team of pilots travelling in civilian clothes stopped one of the pilots from taking over the plane.

At least one false report has already spread. Hebrew-language media wrongly reported that a second flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was turning back. The mistake appears to have come from a glitch on flight-tracking websites.

It is not yet clear how the passengers will get home. Flydubai has said it will send another plane to Tabuk, but Israel is looking at sending an Israeli civilian or military aircraft to collect the passengers.

El Al has told Israeli authorities it could send a rescue flight immediately.

No reports so far have mentioned Australians among the passengers.

This is a developing story. More information is expected in the next few hours.