Tel Aviv flight diverted to Saudi Arabia after cockpit incident, Israeli source says

A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia after an incident occurred between the pilots in the cockpit. According to Dawn and RTE News, the incident involved a physical altercation between the pilots, which led to the transmission of emergency signals. The flight, numbered FZ1073, diverted over Jordanian airspace and landed safely at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The incident initially raised concerns about a possible hijacking, with Israeli authorities reportedly scrambling warplanes in response, as per ABC News AU. However, an Israeli official said it was not believed to be a hijacking. The airline confirmed that the aircraft landed safely and all passengers were safe and accounted for.

The incident involved a Boeing 737 plane, which transmitted multiple emergency signals, including one indicating possible unlawful interference, before landing safely. According to an Israeli official cited by Dawn and RTE News, the pilots got into a physical altercation with each other, although it is not clear if either pilot intentionally transmitted the emergency signals.

Brief written by urgent.news from ABC News (US), Dawn, RTE News, Al-Monitor, ABC News AU — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.