It is too early to say if Iran had any involvement in an attack by a pilot who stabbed another pilot and tried to take over a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel’s prime minister has said.
The Flydubai plane plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) two hours into its journey on Wednesday, before passengers and crew overpowered the attacker and retook control to land safely.
The stabbed pilot, Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, is in hospital in a stable condition, and has been hailed a “true hero” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
One passenger, Yaniv Hayun, described how he put the attacker, who was trying to disable the plane, in a chokehold before other passengers helped pin him down.
The alleged attacker, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia, is expected to be transferred to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the plane took off from, Netanyahu told Fox News.
Asked whether there was any indication as of now of Iran’s involvement, he replied: “It’s too early to say”. He added that the pilot was “now being investigated in Saudi Arabia”.
The UAE’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday an investigation had been launched into the incident, including if there was any link to “terrorist” activity.
Meanwhile, he and India’s leader Narendra Modi called stabbed pilot Machchhar a “hero”.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
Modi praised the pilot’s actions, writing on X: “In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the BBC it was “an amazing, heroic event of resilient people who work together”.
“There was a huge miracle and huge bravery and we are grateful to the Indian pilot who was such a hero,” he said to Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday.
Netanyahu told CNN Israel did not have any warning or advance intelligence about the incident on the plane, which was flying 174 people to Israel.
Preliminary findings from a separate Israeli investigation, suggest that the alleged attacker intended to crash the plane, an Israeli security source told BBC Arabic.
The source said the investigation – led by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad – interviewed passengers after they arrived in Tel Aviv to establish what had happened on the plane.
Flydubai’s flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport in the UAE at 03:05 GMT (07:05 local time), en route to Ben Gurion Airport.
Two hours later, the 17,000ft drop in altitude was reported on the plane tracking website Flightradar24 and minutes later the plane signalled an emergency code – squawk 7700 – before switching it to a squawk 7500 code reporting a hijacking.
Around 20 minutes after these codes were signalled, the plane started its manual descent for landing into Saudi Arabia. Less than an hour later, the plane returned to squawk 7700.
Eyewitness accounts and a statement by Netanyahu confirmed one of the pilots had stabbed the other and, according to the Israeli prime minister, “apparently tried to crash” the aircraft.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack”, without giving any details.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Netanyahu, and said it seemed as though the attacker was “perhaps a terrorist” or there were other reasons behind the attack.
One passenger, Hayun, described how he and others on the flight had restrained the attacker.
“The pilot who was stabbed was simply very close to the door, so it was hard for us to open it,” Hayun said in a video posted on social media by the prime minister’s office, but before the stabbed pilot collapsed, he was able to open the door.
Yaniv said he put the attacker, who was trying to disable the plane, in a chokehold before other passengers helped pin him down.
He added that he “pulled the controls” of the plane and after it levelled out, another pilot took over control.
Airline Flydubai confirmed two on-duty crew travelling on the flight landed the plane.
Zvika Meness, another passenger, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan News that he and other passengers tied the attacker up “with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones”.
He said: “There are children and families here who have been through a very severe, highly traumatic event.”
The passengers, who were almost all Israeli, were taken to Tel Aviv on another flight later on Wednesday.
They were greeted at the airport by crowds of onlookers playing music, singing, dancing and waving Israeli flags.
A number of people were “very emotional and crying as they came off the plane,” a paramedic from Israel’s ambulance service told the BBC.
Flydubai said “an altercation occurred in the flight deck” and the flight was “successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport”.
All of the airline’s flights to and from Israel will be suspended during the investigation, a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure the ongoing safety, health, and wellbeing of all passengers and crew members involved in this incident and support the official investigation,” they added.
Correction 1 October: This article originally reported that Netanyahu had said that it was too early to say what the attacker’s motivation was. This has been amended to make clear that Netanyahu’s comments to Fox News concerned it being too early to say if Iran was involved.
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