Israel-bound plane rerouted, pilots wounded in reported fight
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. The flydubai plane landed in Tabuk "at 9:45 am (0645 GMT) and its captain and copilot were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital", a statement from the company operating the airport said.
A flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia after a reported fight between the pilots. The Flydubai plane, carrying around 150 people, mostly Israeli, landed at Tabuk Airport in northeastern Saudi Arabia. According to Capital FM Kenya, Israeli officials said one pilot stabbed the other before being restrained.
The plane, flight FZ1073, took off from Dubai International Airport early on Wednesday morning and signalled an emergency code two hours into the journey. The code was briefly switched to report a hijacking before being turned back to a general emergency signal. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed a rapid descent of over 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.
The captain and copilot were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital, a statement from the airport operating company said. A Flydubai spokesperson confirmed the flight experienced an incident while en route and that updates will be issued as further details become available.
Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, Capital FM Kenya — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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