A six-year-old girl unwittingly helped expose an alleged attempt to seize control of a FlyDubai passenger jet after accompanying her mother to the bathroom moments before violence erupted in the cockpit.
Nina Manes was travelling with her parents, Tali and Tzika, on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the co-pilot is alleged to have stabbed the captain in an attempt to take control of the aircraft, The Mirror reports.
As Nina and her mother walked through the cabin, Mrs Manes heard what she later described as suspicious noises coming from the cockpit and rushed to investigate.
Mother's Intervention
“There was blood all over the cockpit and very, very sharp fighting moves,” she told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12. “I screamed, ‘He is stabbing the pilot, he is stabbing the pilot, come help!’ People looked at me and didn’t understand.”
Nina’s father, Tzvika, then reportedly rushed to grab his daughter from the bathroom, describing: “The shrieks of my daughters when the plane nosedived [are still with me]. They said, ‘Dad we don’t want to die.’ [Their cries] were the triggers that caused me to run inside the cockpit.”
Flight Details and Aftermath
The chaos unfolded roughly two and a half hours after take-off, with the flight plummeting from 33,000ft to 17,000ft in about a minute. After the nosedive, the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft made an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and landing in Tabuk, according to Flightradar24.
Shota Musayev, a dentist who treated the captain, captured a video from inside the plane showing the copilot on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back.
“We asked if there was a doctor on the plane, there was a dentist,” Tzvika continued. “He saved the life of the Indian captain, gave him oxygen, stopped his bleeding with blankets and all kinds of equipment that was in the area.”
Investigation and International Response
The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia reported that Captain Smit Machchhar, widely praised as one of the heroes of the flight, was in stable condition overnight. The suspect, an Omani citizen, was under arrest, according to a regional authority, who added that Saudi authorities were working with countries, including Israel, to try to determine a motive.
The UAE, U.S. and Oman are also understood to be helping the investigation.
“All possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into. Nothing is ruled out for now,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israeli intelligence and security officials were in Saudi Arabia to help investigate the copilot, according to another regional official. Israel has requested that the copilot be sent to Israel for the investigation, though it is unclear if that request will be granted, the official said.
Both Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic ties, partly due to the former’s occupation of Palestine, though both nations have previously co-operated on security and intelligence matters through alternative channels.
Investigators led by Abu Dhabi have begun to probe“whether it was linked to any terrorist purpose”, the government has confirmed, noting its authorities have jurisdiction because the plane is registered there and UAE law applies to crimes committed on board.
Asaf Rajuan, who was among those who intervened, said in a statement shared by Israel’s presidency: “We felt helpless, suspended in mid-air, and I didn’t know who to turn to. But it was all instinct to survive.”
