Plane hijacking alert sparked after pilots 'fight with knives' on plane and passengers intervene

Live updates: Flydubai plane sends hijack alert as pilots fight - with passengers 'covered in blood'

An Israeli official said that the pilots had transmitted the emergency signals after getting into a physical altercation with each other while flying the plane with 150 passengers onboard.

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

The violent fight was between the Russian-born chief pilot and the Ukrainian co-pilot, during which one of them was stabbed.

One of the crew members rushed to hit the hijack button and fighter jets were deployed by the IDF.

Passengers jumped in to stop the fight as the plane careened out of control and dropped 14,000 feet in little over a minute.

After the struggle subsided, other crew members were able to land the plane in Saudi Arabia.

The origin of the fight is not yet know. The possibility that there may have been an attempt to carry out a hijacking, causing the altercation, has not been ruled out at this stage.

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Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai diverted over Jordanian airspace towards Saudi Arabia, transmitting a general emergency signal before transmitting another emergency signal that indicates a possible unlawful interference several minutes later, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

The Boeing 737 plane then again transmitted the general emergency signal before landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the website said.

An airline spokesperson said the flydubai flight experienced an "incident" en route to Tel Aviv and diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely. All passengers were safe and accounted for, the spokesperson said, without providing any further details.

It was not immediately clear if either pilot had intentionally transmitted the signal.

Three Israeli security officials earlier told Reuters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations over the flight.

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir also held a "situational assessment" with the commander of the air force and other military officials, Israel's military said in a statement.

Flydubai operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that is popular among Israeli nationals.

It is not the first time a flight between Israel and the UAE has landed in Saudi Arabia. A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 due to a medical emergency, Israeli media reported at the time.

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have official diplomatic relations.