Passengers aboard the Flydubai flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia shared the terror of realizing the pilot of their plane had been attacked midair.
Miriam, an Israeli passenger who remained at the Saudi airport after the landing, spoke with i24NEWS about what happened. Her mother, Yasmine, who was waiting for her at Ben Gurion Airport, also joined the conversation. Miriam said passengers heard screaming before the emergency landing.
“About an hour or two before the landing, we heard screaming from the plane," she recalled. “Someone started screaming. We just heard screaming, and they opened the cockpit and saw a ton of blood from someone who was apparently trying to murder the pilot with a pocketknife. Then the plane lost control. We felt that we were about to crash. I already screamed, ‘Shema Yisrael,’ and said, ‘I cannot die,’" she said.
According to Miriam, several Israeli passengers intervened during the incident and helped restrain the person involved. Passengers with medical training then assisted the injured pilot. Miriam said a nurse and a doctor provided initial treatment, while several other pilots who were aboard the flight also helped.
“We don't yet know. There is some thought that it might be someone from the plane's crew. We really don't know. At least I don't know," she said. "There were moments when we were all sure that we weren't coming out of here alive. We didn't know whether it was a crash or gunfire or murder."
Meanwhile, investigators are examining a possibility that one of the pilots attempted to crash the aircraft and that the other pilot, together with Israeli passengers, intervened to prevent it. Security officials have stressed that the possibility of a security incident has not been ruled out at this stage.