A Flydubai rescue aircraft carrying Israeli passengers from the almost-doomed Flight 1073 touched down Wednesday at Ben-Gurion Airport. The arrival came several hours after a terrorist attack by the flight's copilot forced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. During the ordeal, the plane rapidly descended, almost losing its vertical stabilizer.
Video: Passengers upon landing back in Israel / Credit: Usage under Israeli intellectual property law Article 27a
The Israeli passengers returned home following agonizing hours of uncertainty. The boarding of the rescue plane in Saudi Arabia was delayed when several Israelis refused to embark while the security establishment verified the relief pilots' identities.
The ordeal unfolded hours earlier on a Boeing 737 Max flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv with roughly 180 passengers, including about 100 Israelis. The aircraft abruptly veered off course, lost altitude, and plunged from 34,000 feet to 17,000 feet in under a minute. During this harrowing dive, the plane broadcast a general emergency code followed by a hijacking signal, prompting the Israeli Air Force to scramble fighter jets.
Video: Ben Gurion Airport welcomes the passengers of FZ1073 / Creidt: Yossi Zeliger
According to information obtained by Israel Hayom, the co-pilot – an Omani national – stabbed the Emirati captain inside the cockpit in a bid to crash the aircraft. Passengers on board described scenes of sheer terror. "We heard screams and saw blood," one passenger recounted, noting that Israelis intervened to halt the assailant. Another passenger recalled shouts and the sudden failure of the electrical system, adding that several Israelis charged into the cockpit to help subdue the attacker. A doctor and a nurse on the flight administered medical care to the wounded captain.
