Dramatic images filmed on board a passenger plane flying from UAE to Israel capture the moments when passengers stormed the cockpit after one pilot stabbed the other in an apparent mid-air hijack attempt.
Distress signals from the plane triggered a major security alert, with Israel scrambling fighter jets to intercept the aircraft.
The plane, flying from Dubai to Israel, plunged around 15,000 feet, as flight control was lost. Passengers described how one of the flydubai pilots had stabbed his co-pilot and appeared to be intending to crash the plane.
Passengers managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members, and subdued the attacker.
Other pilots on board then took control of the flight which made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia where a pilot was arrested.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the pilot who was stabbed as a hero. Israel has said it was an act of terrorism. The country’s defence minister said it was an act of “jihadist terrorism”.
Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Yogita Limaye in Tel Aviv.
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