Pilot and passengers save plane after attack by co-pilot

A copilot stabbed a captain in an apparent attempt to crash a jetliner Wednesday as it was flying 174 people to Israel. Passengers burst into the cockpit and wrestled with the attacker even as the plane descended sharply, witnesses and Israel's government said.

The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The shaken passengers from the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed Wednesday evening in Israel on another flight, as onlookers cheered. Israel's emergency services said they treated three passengers with minor injuries.

It was not clear what motivated the attack, which led Israel to scramble warplanes amid concerns about a possible hijacking. In a CNN interview aired on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker was an Omani national and was being interrogated in Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested.

Aviation experts were surprised the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail.

"We're going to die," passenger Naama Bershadski recalled thinking as she closed her eyes and prayed.

A video shared by Netanyahu's office showed passenger Yaniv Hayoun, who grappled with the attacker, wearing a bloodied shirt and hugging the prime minister, who told Hayoun: "I look at you and I see a lion. I see a great hero."

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he and Netanyahu discussed the incident "at length" by telephone and that it seemed as though the copilot "was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job. And, he stabbed the pilot."

Hayoun, who Netanyahu identified as a plumber, said he and others pushed their way into the cockpit, where he saw the alleged attacker seemingly trying to destroy the controls.

"The door apparently wasn't locked, and we managed to open it," Hayoun told journalists. "What made it difficult for us was the (other) pilot himself. He had been stabbed and was on the other side of the door."

Hayoun told Netanyahu that as people wrestled with the attacker, he grabbed the controls and pulled them the way he had seen on television shows. Then crew members took over. FlyDubai said the aircraft was secured by crew "who diverted and landed the aircraft safely."

Another passenger, dentist Shota Musayev, told journalists they realized they had just seconds to take control of the plane before a "critical event." They feared another attacker might be on the plane, so "we spread a few more people inside the plane so that if something happened, we would be able to simply take control."

Musayev then attended to the wounded pilot: "He was just praying the whole time and was in contact with me, and I was afraid we would really lose him."

Netanyahu identified the captain as Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen, and noted his "extraordinary bravery." The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was hospitalized in stable condition.

In an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night, Netanyahu said the attacker might have hit the captain with an axe. Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit for use in an emergency to break open a window to escape or break open a panel to access a fire.

"Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker - preventing a catastrophic midair disaster," Netanyahu said of the wounded captain on X. "He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals."

Israel's Foreign Ministry said those on board were from Israel, India and the United Arab Emirates. The US State Department said four passengers had American citizenship.

FlyDubai said its flights to and from Israel would be suspended while an investigation takes place. Netanyahu said he spoke with the UAE's president, who agreed that Israel would join in interrogating the suspect.