TABUK: Two pilots were wounded after they reportedly fought on board a plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

The flydubai plane landed in Tabuk at 9:45am (11:45am PKT), and its “captain and copilot were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital”, a statement from the company operating the airport said.

The low-cost carrier had earlier said flight FZ1073 “experienced an incident while en route... The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk airport and all passengers are safe and accounted for.”

Several Israeli media outlets reported that a fight had broken out between the plane’s pilots, causing a distress signal to be activated.

Israeli media also reported that two other pilots were travelling on the plane as passengers and had taken over the controls to carry out the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

According to data from the Flightradar website, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 0521GMT to less than 17,000 feet a minute later.

The flight from Dubai diverted over Jordanian airspace towards Saudi Arabia, transmitting a general emergency signal before transmitting another emergency signal several minutes later indicating possible unlawful interference, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

The Boeing 737 plane then again transmitted the general emergency signal before landing at Tabuk airport, the website said. There were 180 Israelis on board the plane, according to Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

‘Blood everywhere’

Yasmin Abu Kasis, whose daughter Miriam was on the flight, said her daughter had told her that she heard screaming and that a man took a knife, put the pilot on the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that authorities were investigating whether one of the pilots had attempted a possible suicide by trying to crash the plane, with the other pilot apparently intervening to prevent the crash.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, Times of Israel and Channel 12 reported that the Israeli military had scrambled fighter jets after fears of a possible hijacking, with the hypothesis later dismissed.

The incident was not believed to have been a hijacking, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

Pilot ‘tried to crash’ plane

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged that one of the pilots had planned to crash the plane and kill its mostly Israeli passengers.

“During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Netanyahu said in a video message, calling the passengers “heroes” who “prevented a major disaster”.

Netanyahu claimed the pilot who allegedly stabbed his colleague “has been arrested and is currently being interrogated by the Saudi authorities”.

He credited the Indian pilot of the flight, as well as the aircraft’s passengers, with averting the catastrophe.

Netanyahu’s office earlier said he had held consultations on the matter and was “monitoring developments”.

“The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” a statement said.

Saudi Arabia turned down a request by Israel to allow its planes to bring back passengers from the flydubai flight, two security sources said.

The request was made to allow Israeli military planes to bring back Israelis from Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, the sources said.

Later, a second aircraft, also operated by flydubai, took the passengers to Israel and arrived at Tel Aviv airport, TV images showed. It landed on the tarmac of Ben Gurion airport at 1534 GMT (8:34pm PKT).

Flydubai said it was suspending flights to and from Israel following the incident, while an investigation continues.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2026