Passengers say a pilot on a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight was stabbed before the plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia.
The airport where the plane landed says both the captain and first officer sustained injuries – but does not say how. Both have been taken to hospital.
It now appears this may have been an attempted hijacking by one of the pilots, writes our reporter in Jerusalem.
One passenger reports “terrible screams throughout the plane” before “three to five guys burst into the cockpit” and subdued an attacker.
Another passenger says “we took control of the flight” from “an assailant with a knife” – meanwhile, two other pilots, sitting at the back, reportedly came forward to land the plane.
The Flydubai plane signalled an emergency code two hours into the flight. It then switched to a hijacking code but returned to a general emergency signal.
Data shows how the plane plummeted 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes.
Flydubai recovery plane at Tabuk airport to pick up stranded passengers
A Flydubai plane sent to recover the passengers stranded at Tabuk airport after a reported stabbing on a previous flight has landed.
The earlier Dubai to Tel Aviv flight (FZ1073) was diverted to Tabuk airport, in Saudi Arabia, after an emergency signal – and later a hijacking warning – was broadcast.
Flydubai reports that its recovery plane (FZ8455) landed in Tabuk at 12:43 BST (14:43 local time).
Source: BBC
