Israeli official says “major disaster avoided” after pilot stabbed his co-pilot, attempted to hijack aircraft with over 100 Israeli passengers • Plane makes emergency landing in Saudi Arabia
One hundred and seventy-four Israeli passengers were returned to Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday evening after a stunning series of events in which multiple passengers helped restrain an Omani hijacker-pilot who attempted to crash the airplane earlier in the day.
The passengers were initially on a flydubai commercial passenger aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, but then the pilot-hijacker, who was the deputy pilot for the flight, stabbed the lead pilot and tried to crash the aircraft before as many as four passengers wounded him and tied him up.
An additional flight crew on board were then able to handle landing the plane in Saudi Arabia, though the original pilot, a native of India, was in critical condition, having been stabbed repeatedly by the Omani pilot.