A passenger on a flight to Tel Aviv on Wednesday said he watched in horror as the planeβs pilots tumbled out of the cockpit, locked in a bloody brawl.
βI donβt deserve to die like this,β said one passenger on Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The motive of the cockpit stabbing remains unknown, officials said.
A routine flight turned terrifying when a violent altercation broke out inside the cockpit and the aircraft dropped 17,000 feet in two minutes. Passengers subdued a knife-wielding attacker.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the attack might have been an attempt to crash the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The passenger, Miriam Ohayon, said people on board felt the jet lose control and heard screams. βWhen they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood,β she told Israeli television.