(VIDEO) Israel-Bound Flydubai Jet Plunges After Co-Pilot Stabs Captain in Suspected Bid to Crash Plane

JERUSALEM — A Flydubai passenger jet bound for Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a violent struggle in the cockpit in which one pilot stabbed the other and appeared to try to crash the plane, Israeli officials said, sending the aircraft into a steep descent and prompting Israel to scramble fighter jets.

Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 Max 8 carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children, landed safely at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. All passengers were reported safe. Both the captain and the first officer were injured and taken to hospital, according to Tabuk airport.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one of the pilots stabbed the other and appears to have tried to crash the plane. Israeli security agencies are investigating the incident as a suspected act of terrorism, according to Israeli media reports.

Emergency codes and a sudden plunge

The flight departed Dubai on Wednesday morning and was scheduled to land at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv at about 9:30 a.m.

About 90 minutes into the flight, as it entered Jordanian airspace, the aircraft transmitted squawk code 7700, signaling a general emergency. It then transmitted code 7500, which indicates unlawful interference and is commonly associated with a hijacking, according to Israeli news site Ynet.

The jet turned back into Saudi airspace and dropped sharply. FlightAware data showed it descending from about 34,000 feet to around 15,400 feet in roughly 12 minutes.

Meidan Barr, a former chairman of the Israel Airline Pilot Association, told Fox News that such a rapid loss of altitude would normally resemble an emergency descent, such as one following a loss of cabin pressure.

Tabuk airport said it received a distress call from the flight, declared an emergency and that the plane landed safely at 9:45 a.m. local time.

Conflicting accounts of the attack

Details of what happened in the cockpit remained unclear, and early accounts differed.

Two Israeli officials told CNN that one of the pilots was an Omani national and that he was the co-pilot and alleged attacker. An Israeli official told CNN that the co-pilot tried to stab the pilot and that a passenger helped take him down.

Ynet reported that the Omani co-pilot is suspected of trying to crash the aircraft and was himself stabbed during the struggle before being subdued by the captain, an Indian national, with help from Israeli passengers. The co-pilot had worked for Flydubai for less than a year, according to sources cited by The Jerusalem Post.

"One pilot stabbed the other and tried to do 9/11," an official told Israel's Channel 12.

Flydubai confirmed an incident had occurred but said it was too early to determine a cause.

"At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation," a Flydubai spokesperson said. The airline said it was working closely with the relevant authorities.

Passengers describe chaos

Passengers described scenes of panic and blood as crew members and travelers rushed toward the cockpit.

Video shared on social media showed one passenger with a head wound and another in a blood-spattered white T-shirt. In one clip, a bloodied passenger said travelers had "subdued the terrorists" and pleaded for help.

"We were either going to crash or be murdered," one passenger told i24 News. "It was like a terrorist attack in mid-air."

A passenger identified only as Meital told Channel 12 that her husband ran to the front of the plane after someone shouted "stabbing," and that he and other Israelis helped restrain the attacker. She said there was a lot of blood.

Another passenger told The Jerusalem Post that an Israeli dentist aboard the flight treated the wounded pilot, whom the passenger described as being in critical condition, and saved his life. Other passengers said two off-duty pilots traveling on the flight helped take control of the aircraft and land it.

Passengers cheered once the plane touched down on Saudi soil, according to video shared by Israeli media.

Israel mobilizes security response

The incident set off a major security response in Israel. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz convened an urgent security consultation, and Israeli air force jets were scrambled as a precaution.

Police Commissioner Danny Levy held a situation assessment as a joint command center was set up with other security agencies.

"We are preparing for every scenario," Levy said while the situation aboard the aircraft remained unclear.

During the initial response, an Israeli security official said authorities could not reach the pilot. "We are unable to establish contact with the pilot, and that is concerning," the official said.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev asked the Shin Bet security agency to halt all Flydubai flights into and out of Israel and requested an investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Getting passengers home

Flydubai said it sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk for passengers and crew and that the incident had not affected its other scheduled operations.

Reports differed on how passengers responded. Family members at Ben Gurion told CNN most had boarded a substitute Flydubai plane, while eyewitnesses told The Jerusalem Post many passengers initially refused because neither the aircraft nor its pilot was Israeli.

Israeli media reported that 166 of the passengers were Israeli. Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

In a separate development, a second flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv turned around later Wednesday. There was no immediate indication it was connected to the Flydubai incident.

A popular route

Flydubai, a low-cost sister carrier of Emirates, operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv. The route has been popular with Israeli travelers since Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations in 2020, and flights typically cross Saudi and Jordanian airspace.

Flydubai kept up flights to Tel Aviv during the Gaza war, when many foreign airlines suspended service.

Investigators are expected to examine the cockpit, flight data and crew backgrounds as they work to determine what triggered the attack and whether it was premeditated.