Flydubai 'terrorist' wanted to crash plane, kill Israelis: Security minister
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia has arrested the co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the other pilot and tried to crash the flydubai plane.
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JERUSALEM: The emergency landing of a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight on Wednesday (Sep 30) was due to a "terrorist" who wanted to crash the plane and kill Israelis, AFP reported, citing Israel's national security minister.
"The naive notion that our enemies cherish life and that we should pity them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board," Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement.
Two pilots were wounded after they reportedly fought on board the plane they were flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, and which was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Reuters reported two Israeli officials as saying that the co-pilot was believed to have stabbed the captain before cabin crew entered the cockpit and took control of the plane.
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The two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters, said Israel's current assessment is that the incident was an attempted "terror attack" and not related to any kind of mental health issue with either of the pilots.
The co-pilot has since been arrested and is currently being interrogated by the Saudi authorities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message, as he ordered preparations against further possible threats.
The flydubai plane landed in Tabuk at 9.45am (2.45pm, Singapore time) and "its captain and co-pilot were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital", a statement from the company operating the airport said.
The low-cost carrier had earlier said flight FZ1073 "experienced an incident while en route".
Around the time the plane landed in Saudi Arabia, Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office, told Reuters the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking, describing it as a "different incident".
He did not immediately respond to a further request for comment on whether Israel was treating it as terror incident.
The incident triggered national security consultations in Israel, which has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed.
In a statement, the Israeli prime minister's office said the situation was "under control" and that all measures were being taken to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel.
Netanyahu, who earlier held security consultations on the incident, has cleared his schedule for the rest of the day to manage the crisis, an Israeli official said.
"A LOT OF BLOOD"
At Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, families gathered to await the return of their loved ones.
Yasmin Abukasis, mother of passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon, told AFP her daughter called her from Saudi Arabia: "She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting".
Another passenger went to the cockpit "and saw a lot of blood. She started screaming 'come help' and some people went in and caught the guy", she added.
She added that two other pilots in the back later took over the controls.
Meir Zohar, the father of passenger Ido Zohar, told AFP his son had told him by text message that he was well, but that he had no other news.
"We heard on the news what happened in the sky of Abu Dhabi," he said.
"He told us that everything is okay, he didn't tell me that much."
Israeli media, citing anonymous sources, reported that passengers on board had stepped in to separate the two pilots during their altercation, publishing photos of a passenger with a bloodied T-shirt.
Channel 12 reported that authorities were investigating whether or not one of the pilots had attempted a possible suicide by trying to crash the plane, with the other pilot apparently intervening to prevent the crash.
According to data from the Flightradar website, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet to less than 17,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
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