New footage broadcast by Israeli television on Thursday showed the chaotic moments aboard flydubai flight 1073 after passengers and crew members foiled an apparent attempt to crash the plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
In a video clip shared by Channel 12, which was filmed from a seat near the cockpit, people shout in a mixture of English and Hebrew, with one person saying “he tried to crash the plane,” in reference to the Omani co-pilot who stabbed the plane’s Indian captain. Others shout “get him out” towards the cockpit and order those in the cabin to “sit down”.
It’s not immediately clear when the camera was first turned on. Following the attack, the plane plunged before Yaniv Hayun, a plumber who helped storm the cockpit to subdue the co-pilot, stabilized it, allowing a second pair of flydubai pilots on board to take control of the plane and land it.
After a break in the recording, repeated calls for a doctor can be heard. Dr. Shota Musayev, an Israeli dentist, then rushed to the front of the plane to provide medical care, without anyone being able to see.
As the cries of “sit down” continue, a man asks in Hebrew if there is an extra pilot on the flight, to which someone responds in the affirmative.
The footage then shows a bloodied Captain Smit Machchhar lying on the ground outside the cockpit. Earlier, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, helping save the lives of all 180 people on board the plane. Machchhar explains that the co-pilot “hit me so many times” and that he can move his injured hand but can no longer close it.
Nearby is the injured attacker, whose uniform is also covered in blood, as crew members surround him. “It was he who wanted to stab (the pilot),” said a man in Hebrew, before correcting himself: “it was he who stabbed him, he didn’t want to.”
The video picks up after the plane makes an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, as doctors tend to Machchhar on a raised platform outside the plane’s door. Those still inside the plane can be heard asking where the police are and insisting that the co-pilot must stay on board with them.
“No one will release him,” declares a Hebrew while the co-pilot is visible on his knees, his hands tied behind his back.
“It’s terrorism, you understand, yes? We need police,” one of the flydubai stewards said in English, while another person replied: “He can’t go anywhere. He’s here with us.”
As the camera focuses on the attacker, an English-speaking Israeli passenger says: “He’s been like this for an hour and forty plus… It’s okay.” »
The video ends with Machchhar complaining to doctors about his injured hand while Asaf Rajuan, one of the Israelis who helped subdue the co-pilot, confirms he received “a blow” to the head, and a voice says in English: “Saudi, problem.”
“We’ll laugh about this one day,” an off-screen voice says at the end of the sequence.
“He failed in his mission and preferred to die”
The new footage was released as part of an ongoing investigation into the co-pilot, who was transferred from Saudi custody to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, which said it was investigating “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or objective, or whether it involved prior planning or direction.”
With the co-pilot in Abu Dhabi, Israel “can now join the UAE investigation team and gain precise knowledge of his motivations, who was behind him and his plans,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman David Mencer told Fox News.
According to Hayun, the Israeli who stabilized the plane, the co-pilot shouted “Kill me” after he was pinned.
In a clip released by the government press office, Musayev described how the Israelis initially used earphone cables to tie up the co-pilot, “to make sure he couldn’t run amok.”
Hayun interjected: “He shouted, ‘Kill me, kill me’ in English.
“This means that he failed in his mission and preferred to die,” Hayun said.
Netanyahu referred to this in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, in which he said the Omani co-pilot “underwent radical Islamist indoctrination,” without elaborating, and also quoted the attacker saying, “Kill me, kill me.”
Netanyahu also reemphasized, “It is too early to say whether there was Iranian collusion,” but said he expected more definitive conclusions soon.
Gn world
