The co-pilot of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv has been arrested after seemingly attempting to crash the plane after stabbing the pilot, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
Passengers helped on-duty Flydubai crew, who were travelling on the flight, break into the cockpit and hold down the co-pilot, allowing the other pilots to safely land the plane in Saudi Arabia, according to Netanyahu. Saudi authorities will now interrogate the co-pilot of the flight in question, FZ1073.
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“During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and, apparently, tried to crash the plane with its passengers on board,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office.
“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers, he told me that the plane went into a spin and began to descend,” Netanyahu continued. “He told me 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.”
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Netanyahu praised the actions of those who intervened, calling them “heroes” who had “demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness” and “saved many lives.”
Later on Wednesday, Netanyahu identified the pilot who was attacked as Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen, who the Israeli Prime Minister called a “true hero.”
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“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door. Additionally, enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X. “He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.”
Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, where the flight landed, said in a statement that both pilots on the Flydubai plane were hospitalized in Saudi Arabia.
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Flydubai issued a statement confirming the aircraft had been “successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight” and relaying that all passengers and crew are safe and accounted for.
“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” the airline added.
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Passengers from the flight, meanwhile, later boarded a replacement plane that the coordinated airport and Flydubai and landed at their original destination of Tel Aviv Wednesday evening.
The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority announced on Wednesday that it is investigating the incident. The investigation will include reviews of “operational and security aspects,” the aviation authority said in a statement to the state-run WAM news agency. Meanwhile, cautioning the public to not “circulate any unofficial information or anticipate the results of the investigation.”
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