Flydubai flight diverted after pilot stabs colleague, attempts to crash plane

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported a "highly severe security incident" aboard a flydubai flight FZ1073 from the United Arab Emirates to Israel. According to the Israeli leader, a co-pilot stabbed a colleague before attempting to crash the plane. However, the passengers and another pilot managed to overpower the assailant, securing the aircraft's safe landing in Saudi Arabia.

Netanyahu described the passengers as predominantly Israeli and quoted one of them as stating that they and a crew member broke into the cockpit after the plane "entered a tailspin and began to dive." The passengers found the co-pilot "trying to sabotage the plane's systems." In their actions, the passengers prevented a potential disaster, Netanyahu emphasized.

While the plane transmitted emergency signals, the data indicated a rapid descent of nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. Israeli officials, speaking anonymously, assessed the incident as an attempted "terror attack" and not a hijacking or a mental health issue with the pilots. The co-pilot, identified as an Omani national, was arrested upon landing. All passengers were accounted for and safe, Netanyahu stated in a video message.