A brave six-year-old girl and her mother played a vital role in thwarting an alleged attempted attack on a FlyDubai flight bound for Israel.
Nina Manes was on the plane when chaos erupted, having boarded with her mother Tali and father Tzika on the way to Tel Aviv from Dubai. Nina had asked her mother to go with her to the bathroom at the exact moment the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain in an attempt to take control of the plane.
Mother heard suspicious noises
Her mother heard suspicious noises coming from the cockpit.
“There was blood all over the cockpit and very, very sharp fighting moves,” she told the 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 rushed to grab his daughter from the bathroom. 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.”
Flight descended rapidly
In the chaos that began about two and a half hours after take-off, the flight descended from 33,000ft to 17,000ft in about a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and landing in Tabuk, according to Flightradar24. The site identified the aircraft as a Boeing 737 Max 8.
Video shot inside the plane by Shota Musayev, a dentist who treated the captain, shows the copilot on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back.
Tzvika continued: “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.”
Captain in stable condition
Captain Smit Machchhar, widely praised as one of the heroes of the flight, was reportedly in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said overnight.
A regional official briefed on the investigation said the suspect, an Omani citizen, 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 investigate the copilot, according to another regional official. Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker underwent Islamist indoctrination but did not give 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 said its own investigation team had begun looking into the attack and “whether it was linked to any terrorist purpose”, noting its authorities have jurisdiction because the plane is registered there and UAE law applies to crimes committed on board.
Asked if there is any indication of Iranian involvement, Mr Netanyahu told Fox News “it’s too early to say”.
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.”
