FlyDubai air horror: Passengers pray, sing as plane makes emergency landing in Saudi Arabia | Video | Today’s news
Fears of a possible hijacking gripped Israel briefly when a FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Video of the flight, shared by Hebrew media, has now surfaced online. It showed the moments after the plane landed at Tabuk airport.
Video from a FlyDubai flight
In the video, passengers can be heard singing, clapping and praising as the plane touched down. The video featured the Hebrew song “Od Avinu Chai”, translated as “Our Father Still Lives”. At the same time, some passengers were also seen recording this moment on their mobile phones.
Live Mint could not independently verify the claims.
What happened to flight in the air
FlyDubai Flight FZ 1073 bound from Dubai to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport made an emergency diversion to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia following a mid-flight “incident”, according to the airline.
Officials confirmed the plane landed safely at the dual-use facility. The flight was scheduled to fly from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel before being diverted.
All passengers are safe, according to a spokesman for the low-cost carrier in a statement quoted by AFP.
Fight between pilots or kidnapping?
According to Israeli media, there was a fight between the pilots who were operating the plane. The incident reportedly caused the distress signal to be activated.
The flight sent a general distress code, known as 7700, before switching to code 7500, which stands for unlawful interference, indicating a possible hijacking incident. The plane then switched back to 7700, the service said, according to Bloomberg.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan and Channel 12 reported that the Israeli military had disabled the fighter jets due to fears of a possible hijacking. However, a hypothesis that was later rejected.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had held consultations on the matter and was “monitoring developments”.
“The incident is under control and all measures are currently being put in place to allow the Israeli passengers to return to Israel safely,” AFP said in a statement.
Israeli Transport Minister Miriam Regev has reportedly conducted an assessment of the situation with all relevant stakeholders. The authorities are said to be closely monitoring the incident.
Tabuk is located in northwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In the meantime, Flydubai is said to be working closely with the authorities to consider further steps in the matter.
