Pilot arrested after stabbing another pilot and apparently trying to crash Israel-bound plane
(BBC) A pilot on an Israel-bound flight stabbed another pilot and “apparently tried to crash the plane”, says Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The plane was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it plummeted 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes, before being diverted to Saudi Arabia.
One passenger reports “terrible screams throughout the plane” before “three to five guys burst into the cockpit” and subdued an attacker.
Another passenger says “we took control of the flight” from “an assailant with a knife” – meanwhile, two other pilots, sitting at the back, reportedly came forward to land the plane.
Netanyahu says the pilot who launched the attack has been arrested. He “salutes the heroes” who “saved many lives and prevented a major disaster”.