Israel’s defence minister on Wednesday called an incident on board a Tel Aviv-bound plane an “attempted jihadist terror attack,” after it made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia due to a reported fight between the pilots.
“The serious incident on the flydubai plane was an attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present there,” Israel Katz said, according to a statement.
Katz did not identify his source for assigning a motive to the pilot, whose identity has not been revealed.
READ ALSO: Flydubai Co-Pilot Attacked Pilot In ‘Suicide Attack’, Passenger Says
In his reaction to the event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message that during the flight, as they approached Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board.
He added that he spoke to an Israeli passenger who broke into the cockpit as the plane started to plummet and fought the pilot who was trying to bring down the aircraft.
Another air crew member who was on the plane is said to have entered the cockpit and managed to stabilise the aircraft.
The Prime Minister saluted these individuals who he called heroes that showed extraordinary resourcefulness and courage.
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