Israeli authorities have shifted their assessment and are not ruling out a terrorism angle in the mid-air incident aboard flydubai Flight FZ1073 that was travelling from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates to Ben Gurion in Israel. Earlier, authorities said that the flight was diverted after a ‘violent clash’ between the two pilots.
The co-pilot allegedly stabbed the pilot and attempted to take control of the plane which was carrying approximately 180 passengers. A second team of pilots in civilian clothes, later made an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Read : In flydubai Scare, Omani Co-Pilot Stabbed Emirati Captain, Tried To Take Control
Both the pilot and copilot of the flight were injured and have been hospitalised, the company operating the Tabuk airport said in a statement. All passengers and crew were reported safe.
According to a report by The Times of Israel, the aircraft first issued an international emergency signal and later changed it to a hijacking or unlawful interference code. The flight descended about 17,400 feet in roughly two minutes before the first emergency signal was transmitted.
After the flight transmitted squawk code 7500, Israeli Air Force fighter jets scrambled towards the aircraft.
Fightradar Route Show Plane Veered Towards Jordan
Footage from Flightradar24 showed that the flight, which was on the way to Tel Aviv, diverted towards the Jordanian airspace towards Saudi Arabia. The flight route shows that the plane veered off into Jordanian airspace and instead of moving towards Israel, looped back to enter Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has described the situation as being “under control” after he held consultations about the aviation incident.
The development comes as Netanyahu said earlier that there are indications that Israel’s enemies may attempt attacks ahead of the elections, warning them against taking such action and saying the country’s “long arm” would reach them anywhere and at any time.