Nearly half a day after taking off from Dubai for Tel Aviv, all 174 passengers aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073, including 27 children, landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening after surviving what Israeli officials have described as a suspected attempted terrorist attack.
Magen David Adom teams and medical staff at Ben Gurion Airport met the passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia with mobile intensive care units and ambulances on standby.
Israeli passengers rescued from Flydubai flight land at Ben Gurion Airport
(Video: Meir Turgeman)
MDA paramedics examined the passengers after landing. A 51-year-old man was evacuated to hospital in mild condition with an upper-body injury.
Among those returning were passengers who helped overpower the suspected attacker during the violent confrontation in the cockpit.
Flydubai plane lands at Ben Gurion Airport
(Video: Daniel Elmaliah)
Some passengers initially refused to board another Flydubai aircraft for the journey home, saying they were afraid to fly with the airline again. They eventually agreed after being told there was no alternative and after Saudi authorities refused to approve an Israeli-chartered rescue aircraft.
The rescue flight departed Tabuk after the Mossad completed background checks on the Flydubai crew and cleared the aircraft for departure.
Medical teams wait outside the Flydubai aircraft
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
The ordeal began at around 8:21 a.m., when, according to the emerging Israeli assessment, an Omani pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, which was carrying mostly Israeli passengers.
Passengers helped overpower the suspect, according to testimony from the flight, allowing another flight crew aboard the aircraft to regain control and eventually make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Aryeh Myers MDA Paramedic
Defense Minister Israel Katz later described the incident as an “attempted jihadist terrorist attack” and said it had been thwarted by the actions of Israeli passengers. “According to the initial information in our possession, the terrorist had one intention: to crash the aircraft with all its passengers,” Katz said.
One passenger described the terrifying moments in a video recorded while the aircraft was still in the air.
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
“We’re on the flight from Dubai. We took control of the situation here. There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots,” he said.
“A few of us just jumped in and pulled him out of the cockpit. Everything is OK now. The terrorist has been neutralized.”
The passenger said one pilot was seriously wounded and another appeared to have been injured but remained able to help bring the aircraft down safely.
Israeli Flydubai passengers sing ‘Don’t be afraid’ on flight home
“There is a pilot here who is seriously wounded and apparently another pilot inside who is injured, but he is managing to land the plane,” he said. “There are two crew members inside the cockpit. We made sure they locked the door. I love you, and everything is OK.”
The original aircraft landed safely in Tabuk after issuing emergency signals and making a rapid descent. Flydubai has said the incident remains under official investigation and has cautioned against speculation over its cause or motive.
Hours later, the passengers who had begun their morning expecting a routine three-hour flight from Dubai finally arrived home at Ben Gurion Airport.