Eighty-four minutes of panic in the air. A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing at Tabuk International Airport, Saudi Arabia, after a serious incident in the cockpit.
According to preliminary reports, aboard the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, with about 180 passengers, there is suspected to have been a physical altercation in the cockpit, where the pilot and co-pilot were seen bleeding. A video filmed by passengers, which is circulating online, shows the pilot injured and in a critical condition, while the co-pilot is seen restrained with his hands behind his back.
In the video, an Israeli passenger is heard telling the pilot, "You saved the plane." Another passenger points to the person lying on the ground and says, "This is the man who stabbed him."
The incident occurred about an hour after takeoff from Dubai. The plane was flying in Saudi Arabian airspace, at an altitude of over 10,000 meters, when it suffered a sudden and hard landing. According to flight data, in less than a minute it descended from about 10,000 meters to about 5,000 meters, while the speed increased significantly.
A few minutes later, the plane transmitted code 7700, indicating a general emergency. Then code 7500, the international signal for unlawful interference on board or suspected hijacking, was also reported.
Israeli and Saudi authorities have launched investigations, with passengers being questioned. Israel is treating the case as a possible terrorist incident and is verifying whether there was an attempt to bring down the plane.
Due to the alarm, the Israeli military aviation scrambled fighter jets, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office was notified of the situation in real time.
At the moment, many details remain unconfirmed. What is certain is that flight FZ1073 did not arrive in Tel Aviv, but landed in Tabuk in an emergency, following one of the most unusual and disturbing incidents reported recently in civil aviation.
