A Flydubai airline commercial plane traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia this Wednesday after an unspecified “incident.”
The landing occurred after the plane issued an emergency alert that led Israeli authorities to deploy troops in the event of a potential hijacking.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Transport, there had been an “altercation between the crew.” However, according to the Israeli press, the incident would have to do with a confrontation between pilots that would have ended with a stabbing.
“Flydubai can confirm that flight FZ 1073 operated on September 30 between Dubai International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport suffered an incident during its route,” a spokesperson for the airline confirmed.
A fight between pilots
The company has reported that the plane managed to land safely at the airport in the city of Tabuk, highlighting that the passengers are safe and out of danger. “The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew are our top priority,” the airline said.
According to Israeli sources cited by the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’, the hijacking alert had been activated by mistake after an alleged fight between the pilots in the cockpit. The incident has not yet been confirmed and the airline has already explained that it will provide “more details” when the full information is known.
After the alert was issued, the plane began to lose altitude and reduce its speed, prompting Israel to send planes to the area due to fears of a hijacking. The country tried to contact the cabin and, given the lack of answers and doubts, decided to send the army.
Investigations are already underway
As one of the passengers stated in his testimony to the Israeli newspaper ‘Jerusalem Post’, the altercation occurred when one of the pilots of the aircraft stabbed the other in mid-flight.
Israeli media do not rule out that it could be a security incident, so one of the pilots is already being interrogated to find out if their objective was to take the plane and crash it with the passengers.
Preliminary investigations suggest that it could have been a suicide attempt in which the attacker intended to crash the plane with more than 100 passengers on board. According to witnesses, the quick intervention of the co-pilot and several passengers served to contain the situation.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reported in a statement that “the situation is under control,” and that “all necessary measures” are being carried out to safely transfer Israeli passengers to Israel.
For its part, the Israeli Army has highlighted that the meetings also included the heads of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Air Force and Israeli Intelligence.
