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A pilot on a flight from Dubai to Israel allegedly st@bbed his co-pilot in an attempt to hijack the plane midair, according to reports.
Israeli fighter jets were scrambled after Flydubai Flight FZ1073 dramatically dropped approximately 13,000 feet in 30 seconds as it veered off course on Wednesday morning, September 30, FlightRadar data shows.
Passengers on board FlyDubai flight FZ1073 said they feared they would di£ as they heard "screams and saw blood" during the fight.
The plane appeared to nosedive before returning back to Saudi Arabia, where it landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base.
A witness told the Jerusalem Post that one pilot st@bbed the other before passengers near the front of the plane forced the attacker out of the cockpit.
Two other pilots who were onboard at the back of the plane helped land the flight.
A passenger told Israel’s Channel 12 after the plane made an emergency landing: “We heard screams on the plane.
“Then they opened the cockpit and we saw bl00d, and someone had st@bbed the pilot with a pocketknife.
“We prayed. There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz held an urgent meeting to discuss the situation and scrambled warplanes amid fears a plane carrying dozens of its citizens had been hijacked.
An Israeli official said a “major disaster was narrowly avoided”, according to the outlet.
The outlet also reported that the Israeli security agencies including the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet believe the incident may have been intended as an act of terror.
A passenger has described how her husband helped “neutralise the terrorist” on board the flight.
The woman, named Meital, told Channel 12 that a member of the flight crew “tried to crash the plane” before being subdued by passengers.
“Someone shouted ‘st@bbing’ and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralised the terrorist,” she said.
Passenger with stain on clothes after intervening
According to one senior official, the co-pilot is currently being questioned, and indications suggest that he may have intended to take control of the plane and crash it with the passengers on board.
The pilot who reportedly put the aircraft into the dangerous dive is believed to be an Omani citizen, the other pilot is from the UAE, local media reported.
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