Investigations suggest an Omani pilot who stabbed his fellow pilot and attempted to take control of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Flight FZ1073, carrying more than 170 people, took off from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 03:05 GMT (07:05 local time) for Ben Gurion Airport.
About two hours into the journey on Wednesday, the aircraft plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) before passengers and crew overpowered the attacker and regained control of the plane. The aircraft then landed safely, reports BBC.
According to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the sudden drop in altitude occurred about two hours into the flight, with the aircraft signalling an emergency code minutes later.
Around 05:40, after briefly entering Jordanian airspace, the aircraft looped back into Saudi Arabia. The crew began a manual descent and landed safely at Tabuk Airport in north-west Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu said it was “very likely” that the attacker, an Omani national, “was going to down the plane”.
Netanyahu said that after the attacker was subdued and tied up by passengers and crew, he called out to the aircrew, “kill me, kill me”, indicating that he was suicidal.
“And with all the passengers in there, and if you couple that with what I just told you about the Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that were found in his background, I think… that’ll give us a pretty good clue,” Netanyahu said.
However, he stressed that he did not want to draw any firm conclusions about the motive at this stage.
The stabbed pilot, Indian national Capt Smit Machchhar, was praised as a “hero” by both Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India’s ambassador to the UAE, Deepak Mittal, visited Capt Machchhar in hospital on Thursday. The Indian Mission said on social media that he was “in good health and recovering well”.
The Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia, where the aircraft made its emergency landing, confirmed that both the pilot and co-pilot had been sent back to the UAE on Thursday morning after being cleared by medical teams.
Investigations have begun across several authorities.
In the UAE, the state news agency reported that an investigation had been launched to determine “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose”. UAE officials had earlier claimed jurisdiction over the incident because the aircraft involved is registered in the UAE and flies under its flag.
In Israel, preliminary findings from a separate investigation led by intelligence agency Mossad suggest that the alleged attacker intended to crash the plane, an Israeli security source told BBC Arabic.
The source said Mossad had interviewed passengers after they arrived in Tel Aviv to establish what had happened on the aircraft.
When asked how the suspected Omani pilot came to be on the flight, Netanyahu said pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel are usually not allowed to fly there. Oman has not formally established diplomatic ties with Israel, unlike the UAE.
“Obviously there was a loophole here and we’re taking care of that among other things… with the full co-operation, I have to say, of the Emirati government, so we’re both interested in making sure this doesn’t happen again,” Netanyahu said.
Asked earlier on the same network whether there was any indication that Iran was involved, Netanyahu said: “It’s too early to say.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and UAE officials indicated to the media that Iran may have been responsible for the incident, without definitively blaming Tehran.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that Iran would be “hit very hard” if it was determined to have been involved in the attack.
Following the incident, Flydubai suspended flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv while it conducted its own investigation. Israel’s Transportation Ministry said the suspension was in line with Netanyahu’s directive.
To assist stranded passengers, Israeli airlines including El Al, Israir and Arkia said plans were in place to operate rescue flights from Dubai starting on Friday to bring passengers back.
Israel’s Transportation Ministry also said it had sent an urgent request to Etihad Airways to increase the number of flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.
