Israel-Dubai flight: Netanyahu says pilot arrested after stabbing another pilot

Charlotte Hadfield
Live reporter

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

An Israel-bound plane fell 17,000 feet in two minutes after a pilot stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane, according to Israel’s prime minister.

Benjamin Netanyahu says he spoke to an Israeli passenger aboard the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, who described how the plane “went into a spin and started to descend.”

The passenger told him that “somehow he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and together they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing attack as he attempted to sabotage the plane’s systems.”

Another crew member “entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the plane,” Netanyahu said, while praising the “heroes” who “saved many lives and averted a major catastrophe.”

In a new statement, Flydubai says the aircraft was “successfully secured” by the on-duty crew traveling on the flight who “diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport”.

The motives for the attack remain unknown and are under formal investigation, the airline said.

The pilot who carried out the stabbing attack has been arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, according to Netanyahu.

A series of extraordinary testimonies emerged, including that of a passenger who described hearing “terrible screams throughout the plane” before “three to five guys burst into the cockpit” and overpowered the attacker.

The incident comes at an even more feverish time than usual in Israel, with hotly contested elections just weeks away – it is bound to be used by all sides of the campaign., writes our global affairs correspondent Sebastian Usher.