A flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates diverted to Saudi Arabia after transmitting emergency signals following a fight between the pilots, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
The captain and co-pilot of the diverted Flydubai flight FZ1073 were both injured in the incident and taken to hospital after landing at Tabuk airport, Saudi Arabia’s leading aviation operator Cluster2 said in a statement.
Israeli officials said the incident was a “suspected terror attack.”
The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted over Jordanian airspace towards Saudi Arabia, transmitting a general emergency signal and then another emergency signal that indicated possible unlawful interference several minutes later, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
The Boeing 737 plane, which Israeli media said had around 150 Israeli passengers on board, then again transmitted the initial general emergency signal before later landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the website said.
The aircraft’s data appeared to show that it had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before the first emergency signal, Flightradar24 said.
The emergency signals triggered a major security response in Israel, which has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed. The incident highlighted the potential risks on a route that has become popular among Israeli nationals since the UAE and Israel normalized ties 6 years ago.
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”.
An airline spokesperson said the flydubai flight experienced an “incident” en route to Tel Aviv and diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely. All passengers were safe and accounted for, the spokesperson said, without providing any further details.
An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters the pilots had transmitted the emergency signals after getting into a physical altercation with each other.
It was not immediately clear if either pilot had intentionally transmitted the signals.
Yasmin Abu Kasis said her daughter Miriam, who was among the passengers on the flight, had told her that she had heard screaming and that a man holding a knife had forced one of the pilots onto the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.
Israeli media published a photo purportedly taken from inside the plane, which appeared to show a passenger’s blood-soaked shirt. Reuters could not immediately verify the image.
