Passengers are seen praising the heroics of an injured pilot in a video that has emerged from the flydubai plane that encountered a violent cockpit struggle and a brief hijack scare earlier today.
Israeli authorities are examining the incident and have not ruled out a terror angle. During the confrontation, the plane dropped about 17,400 feet in two minutes, reports said. The plane transmitted the international emergency code 7700, Israeli media cited flight-tracking data as showing, referring to the globally recognised code for hijacking. The distress code was later changed to 7500, which is recognised for unlawful interference, according to flight tracker Flightradar24, which published its timeline of the flight since it took off.
Flydubai later said in a statement that the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight “experienced an incident while en route” and that all passengers were safe and accounted for. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the situation is now under control and that measures are being taken to ensure the return of Israeli passengers to Israel. The country’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said a “terrorist” wanted to crash the aircraft and kill the Israelis on board.
