Israel suspects attempted attack on flydubai flight diverted to Saudi Arabia

Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Israel believes an incident aboard a flydubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel may have been an attempted “terror attack” by a pilot, according to two Israeli officials. The plane transmitted emergency signals on Wednesday before diverting to Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.

Israeli assessment

The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters, said the co-pilot was believed to have stabbed the captain before cabin crew entered the cockpit and took control of the aircraft. They said Israel’s current assessment was that the incident was an attempted attack, rather than an episode related to either pilot’s mental health.

An Israeli official had earlier told Reuters that the emergency signals followed a physical altercation between the pilots.

Around the time the plane landed, Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office, told Reuters the incident was not believed to be a hijacking, describing it as a “different incident”. He did not immediately respond to a further request for comment on whether Israel was treating it as a terror incident.

Pilots hospitalised

In a video widely carried by Israeli media and purportedly showing an Israeli passenger on the flight, the passenger said one pilot was seriously injured and the other slightly injured after one of them was stabbed.

Tabuk airport said both pilots had been hospitalised with injuries. Neither the airport nor the purported passenger identified the attacker.

Emergency signals

Flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, diverted while over Jordanian airspace. It transmitted a general emergency signal, followed by a signal indicating possible unlawful interference, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

The Boeing 737, which Israeli media said had around 150 Israeli passengers aboard, then transmitted the initial general emergency signal again before landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, Flightradar24 said.

Aircraft data appeared to show a sudden descent of nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before the first emergency signal, the website said. It was not immediately clear who transmitted the signals.