One of the pilots of the Israel-bound flydubai flight that was diverted on Wednesday attacked his co-pilot and tried to crash the plane to kill everyone, a passenger said.
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the plane was “pretty much out of control” when the stabbing took place over Jordan on the flight’s path from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
“The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters by speakerphone held up by her mother who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
“It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him,” she said.
“There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do.”
In a video from inside the plane that was reposted by Israeli social media users, one passenger, blood dripping from an open wound on his head, pleaded for assistance and said they were descending into Saudi Arabia, with which Israel has no diplomatic relations.
“We are here during an attack on the plane. We just subdued the terrorists and are preparing to land,” the man said in Hebrew.
“Anyone who can hear me, we need help. We are about to land in Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia. An unknown area. All the passengers are safe and well, except for the pilot. We need help.”
Ohayon’s mother, Yasmin Abukasis, said her daughter was on the flight to attend a service for her brother killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
The daughter “thought they were going to die”, Abukasis told AFP, adding that one woman “went to the (cockpit) and saw a lot of blood”.
She said that two other pilots were on the plane and took charge, diverting it to Saudi Arabia.
AFP
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