Flydubai suspends flights to Israel until further notice after hijacking incident
A source briefed on the investigation into the incident said that Israeli officials are expected to question the co-pilot who allegedly attempted to crash the plane
Flydubai has suspended its flights to Israel until further notice after a hijacking incident on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the co-pilot allegedly attempted to crash the plane, stabbing the captain. Passengers and crew were able to subdue the co-pilot, and a reserve pilot landed the plane at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The co-pilot was detained by Saudi Arabian authorities and later transferred to the UAE. According to Haaretz, Israeli officials are expected to question the co-pilot as part of the investigation into the incident. An Israeli government official told Reuters that Israeli investigators would take part in the UAE-led investigation.
The incident has also sparked a reaction from the UAE, with a source close to the government criticizing Israeli officials for delaying the return of Flydubai flights and "exploiting the attack for political purposes", according to the Jerusalem Post. The UAE had agreed to Israeli requests for additional security measures, but Flydubai's revised procedures were not accepted by Israel.
Brief written by urgent.news from Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, The Economic Times — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
