A flydubai plane bound for Tel Aviv was forced to land in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after an “incident”, the airline said, with Israeli media reporting an altercation between the pilots.
Flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv “experienced an incident while en route. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk Airport (TUU) and all passengers are safe and accounted for,” the spokesperson for the low-cost carrier said in a statement.
Several Israeli media reported that a fight had broken out between the plane’s pilots, reportedly causing a distress signal to be activated.
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 reported that the Israeli military had scrambled fighter jets after fears of a possible hijacking — with the hypothesis later dismissed.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the premier had held consultations on the matter and was “monitoring developments”.
“The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” a statement said.
Neither the airline nor the authorities of the countries involved have provided details on what happened on board the flight.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “checking” the reports.
Bloodied T-shirt
Israeli media, citing anonymous sources, reported that the passengers on board had stepped in to separate the pilots during their altercation, publishing photos of a passenger with a bloodied T-shirt.
Channel 12 reported that authorities were investigating whether or not one of the pilots had attempted a possible suicide by trying to crash the plane, with the other pilot apparently intervening to prevent the crash.
It was not immediately possible to verify the reports.
According to data from the Flightradar website, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 05:21 GMT to less than 17,000 feet at 05:22 GMT.
The incident comes as tensions are high across the Middle East, amid the regional war that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
It also comes just ahead of close-fought Israeli elections due to be held at the end of October.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said there were “indications” that Israel’s enemies could try to attack ahead of elections, and was accused of “fear-mongering” by the opposition chief.
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