Dramatic social media video shows the moment passengers screamed in fear as the plane they were travelling on nosedived after being 'hijacked'. The footage, shared online on X, formerly known as Twitter, captures the plane diving down towards the ground early today (September 30).
Screams of "What the hell" can be heard from adults, while children in the background shout: "What's going on?" as a mother starts screaming. The incident unfolded around 90 minutes after take-off from Dubai as the jet entered Jordanian airspace.
Passengers and crew intervene
Brave airline crew and passengers overpowered the co-pilot after he reportedly repeatedly "stabbed" the flight's captain in mid-air. Officials claim he intended to crash the Tel Aviv-bound flight and was only stopped when he was subdued. Passengers reported seeing the pilot suffer serious stab wounds before his alleged attacker could be dragged off him.
Photos emerged of blood-stained passengers as those onboard sought to stop the mid-air mayhem. The flight appeared to nosedive during the incident as flight-tracking data showed it plummeted by 17,000ft in just minutes.
Emergency landing in Saudi Arabia
The plane was safely landed in Saudi Arabia by a trained pilot who was onboard the flight as a passenger. In other footage previously seen, passengers could be seen celebrating the landing at Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the north-east of the Kingdom after the horror eventually ended.
A senior Israeli official said: "A major disaster was narrowly avoided." An unnamed passenger told local media that one pilot was stabbed by another, but passengers near the front of the plane helped force the alleged attacker from the cockpit. The witness says two other pilots were on board, at the back of the plane.
Passengers describe ordeal
She told the Jerusalem Post: "I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane." Another passenger said: "We understood the pilots lost control. There are people here with shirts covered in blood. Now we are fine and want to return home."
A passenger told Israel’s Channel 12 after the plane made an emergency landing: "We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife. We prayed. There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive."
