Israel-bound flight makes emergency landing in Saudi Arabia amid accounts of a bloody onboard altercation

A passenger plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, with witness accounts describing a bloody onboard altercation that forced the flight to make a sudden and extreme descent. Cluster2, which operates at several airports across Saudi Arabia, said both the captain and the first officer of Flydubai Flight 1073 were injured and taken to a hospital after landing. The Israeli military said it scrambled at least two jets in response to the incident, and had not ruled out the possibility that it was terrorism-related. Video from onboard the Boeing 737 appeared to show two people lying on the floor, visibly bloodied as others crowd around them. Motti Cohen Or, a passenger of the flight, told NBC News that he heard a woman shouting, “Someone is stabbing someone in the cockpit.” The plane then started shaking, with the aircraft briefly diving “toward the ground,” Cohen Or, 70, from central Israel, said. Someone then broke into the cockpit and said both the pilot and co-pilot had been stabbed, he added. An assailant was subdued and a pilot who was onboard was able to “take control” of the plane, Cohen Or said. NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify his account. Israeli media, including The Times of Israel and Ynet, cited unidentified security officials as saying that the alert was triggered after an altercation between the plane’s two pilots. The mother of another passenger told NBC News that her daughter had feared for her life as the plane “started to go down and to shake.” Yasmin Abukasis said her daughter, Miriam Shira, said a pilot had been wounded, and that one of the pilots had a knife. NBC News was not immediately able to independently confirm details of the incident. Abukasis said her daughter had described the ordeal as “crazy, like a movie.” A spokesperson for Flydubai said Flight FZ 1073 had “experienced an incident while en route” from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport. The aircraft landed safely at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport, known as Tabuk Airport, they said. The airline was working to secure a replacement aircraft, and investigators were looking into what happened onboard. The Flydubai flight initially triggered a 7700 “general emergency” signal, aviation tracking site Flightradar24 reported. It then switched to a 7500 code, suggesting “unlawful interference,” before switching back to a 7700, the tracking site said. It said “extreme fluctuations” were observed in the altitude data transmitted from the flight, which appeared to drop by 14,125 feet in just 29 seconds, according to Flightradar24. A spokesperson for the Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that it had opened a waiting and information area at Ben Gurion Airport for passengers’ families. The spokesperson said family members would continue to be updated “as the situation develops.” Earlier, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee expressed relief in a post on X that the incident didn’t turn out to be “more serious.” “This had everyone in the Middle East (esp Israel) on FULL ALERT this morning,” he said. “Having pilots inflight detouring to ‘fist city’ not your ordinary experience.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held consultations on the matter and had monitored developments. “The situation is under control, and all measures are currently being taken to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel safely,” his office said Wednesday.