What happened on board the rerouted flydubai plane?

A plane heading to Tel Aviv from Dubai was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, after one of the pilots allegedly tried to crash the plane and kill everyone onboard.

A flydubai flight bound for Dubai is seen before taking off from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on September 30, 2026. JACK GUEZ / AFP

The aircraft suddenly plummeted a little over two hours into the flight.

The plane dropped from nearly 34,000 feet at 0521 GMT to less than 17,000 feet at 0522 GMT, according to data from the Flightradar24 website.

The plane transmitted a general emergency signal at 0531 GMT, followed by a code to report a hijacking at 0538 GMT, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel's public broadcaster Kan and Channel 12 reported that the Israeli military scrambled fighter jets after initial fears of a hijacking.

The plane begin to spin "pretty much out of control", passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said that one pilot had stabbed the other in an attempt to take over and crash the plane.

Source: Citizen Digital