LIVE: Indian pilot stabbed by cockpit colleague in 'stable condition' - as Trump praises 'incredible story'

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Donald Trump has described the foiled hijacking of a FlyDubai jet as an "incredible story".

The US President told reporters in the Oval Office that he had spoken "at length"with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He said: "The plane was going sharply down at an unbelievable angle.

"So sharp that the rudder ripped off the back of the plane, the plane wasn't designed to go at a speed anywhere near that.

"It was well beyond its limits."

He also said one of the heroes on the flight was an Israeli plumber who was "rarely in planes".

"He's strong. You know, when you lift pipe all day, you're strong. And he saw what was going on.

"He heard the screaming. He was toward the front where you had security in the back.

"Having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up and levelled out the plane before it crashed. Now, this is the story that I heard. I don't know if it's true. But that's the story that I got from Bibi."

The Foreign Secretary says he is "deeply concerned" by the attempted hijacking of a Tel Aviv-bound jet.

In a post on X, Ed Miliband praised the actions of the passengers on board who helped land the plane safely.

FlyDubai has said it will suspend all flights to and from Israel while an investigation is carried out into the attempted hijacking of a Tel Aviv-bound jet.

It said the suspension would allow authorities to "continue their work and establish all the facts surrounding the incident".

The statement added: "We remain in close coordination with government authorities, regulators and  airport stakeholders and will review the suspension as more information becomes available."

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia has confirmed the stabbed pilot is in a "stable condition".

Embassy officials said the pilot,  Indian national Smit Machchhar, is being treated at a hospital in Tabuk City in the north west of the country.

A full update on his health is still awaited but he is reported to be in a stable condition.

The embassy said it is in contact with Mr Machchhar's family and is chasing health authorities for further updates.

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that the stabbed pilot was an Indian national called Smit Machchhar.

He added that the pilot's "extraordinary bravery" saved the lives of "174 people on board, including Israelis and other nationals".

Civil aviation security expert and author of Violence in the Skies, Philip Baum, said an incident like this was "incredibly rare". 

He told Tonight with Andrew Marr: "Aviation is and continues to be the safest form of transport available. 

"However, if we look at the post-September 11th era, it would appear that there have been more casualties, more deaths as a result of aircraft-assisted suicide— in other words, pilot suicide— than there have been due to terrorism."

He added: "Pilots are like pretty much anybody else, any other section of society. 

"There may be amongst their numbers people who have radical views, and equally there will be people who have poor mental health. 

"We don't know what the motivation was in this case, whether it was poor mental health, possibly an argument between pilots on the flight deck which has happened before, or whether it was suicidal intent, either as a lone actor or as a member of a terrorist cell."

Israel will strengthen its security checks on pilots entering the country, a government source said. 

Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office, told Reuters: "Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots' identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check.

"Anywhere that an Israeli is going to be flying into Israel. 

Our job right now is to do our best - even if they're not on Israeli airlines - to make sure that those security procedures are much higher."

An Israeli passenger who helped control the situation told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the injured captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing.

Other travellers were then able to seize the attacker, he told the PM.