A six-year-old girl and her mother played a vital part during an alleged attempted hijacking on a FlyDubai flight destined for Israel, it has emerged.
Nina Manes, alongside her mother Tali and father Tzika, was aboard the aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Young Nina had requested to visit the toilet with her mum moments before the co-pilot allegedly knifed the captain in a bid to seize control of the plane.
Mother heard suspicious sounds from cockpit
Tali then detected suspicious sounds emanating from the cockpit. "There was blood all over the cockpit and very, very sharp fighting moves," she told Israeli 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 dashed to collect his daughter from the lavatory. He said: "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."
Plane descended sharply before landing in Tabuk
The aircraft plummeted from 33,000ft to 17,000ft in roughly a minute, before performing an erratic loop near the Jordanian frontier and touching down in Tabuk, according to Flightradar24. The site confirmed the plane as a Boeing 737 Max 8.
Footage captured inside the aircraft by Shota Musayev, a dentist who treated the captain, reveals the copilot on his knees, with his hands bound behind his back. Tzvika added: "We asked if there was a doctor on the plane, there was a dentist actually... 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 under way
Captain Smit Machchhar, widely hailed as one of the heroes of the flight, is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital following the incident. According to a regional official briefed on the investigation, the suspect is an Omani citizen. They have said the individual was under arrest and confirmed that Saudi authorities were working with countries, including Israel, to try to determine a motive.
He said the UAE, the United States and Oman were also involved. "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 the investigation. Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said the attacker underwent Islamist indoctrination - but did not give further details. 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.
Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel, but the countries have long co-operated on security and intelligence matters through alternative channels. The UAE government has stated that its own investigative team has commenced a probe into the attack to determine "whether it was linked to any terrorist purpose", highlighting that its authorities have jurisdiction as the plane is registered there and UAE law governs crimes committed on board.
When questioned about potential Iranian involvement, Mr Netanyahu told Fox News "it's too early to say". Asaf Rajuan, one of those who intervened, expressed 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."
