- Published
Passengers on a flight to Israel have recounted how they subdued a pilot after he stabbed the other pilot and appeared to be trying to disable the plane, while others described the "terrifying" moment they thought they would die.
asserted
they → publish → moment
Appearing in a bloodstained shirt after the ordeal, Yaniv Hayun told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he realised something was wrong when the aircraft suddenly dropped.
asserted
aircraft → appear → Netanyahu
The plane, en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv, plummeted 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes.
asserted
plane → plummet → minutes
"Someone screamed... the light went out," Hayun said in a video posted by the prime minister on social media.
asserted
Hayun → scream → media
He and others tried to push open the cockpit door, but the pilot who had been stabbed was very close to it, so it was hard to open.
asserted
it → try → it
Before he collapsed, the injured pilot managed to open the door.
asserted
pilot → collapse → door
When Hayun and another man entered the cockpit, he said he saw one pilot down and the attacker on the instruments, between the two seats, "trying to destroy the instruments in order to...disable the plane".
asserted
he → enter → plane
"I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and pulled him - first and foremost - outside," Hayun said.
"
asserted
Hayun → grab → him
We pulled him out; it was a matter of seconds.
asserted
it → pull → seconds
I called out to the Israeli guys with us on the plane - I called them, and two other guys came over to me...
asserted
guys → call → me
we pinned [the attacker] down to keep him secure."
asserted
we → pin → him
Hayun said he then jumped back into the cockpit and "started pulling the controls".
asserted
he → say → controls
When asked by Netanyahu whether he knew what he was doing, the passenger answered: "I watch Air Crash Investigation, Mr Prime Minister."
asserted
I → ask → Investigation
Hayun said the plane then started to level out.
asserted
plane → say → ?
By then, two on-duty pilots who had been in the passenger cabin were at the front of the plane, and one told Hayun he was taking control from there.
asserted
he → tell → control
Netanyahu praised Hayun, calling him a "great hero" and a "lion".
asserted
Netanyahu → praise → him
Another passenger, Zvika Meness, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan he helped overpower the attacker, and the passenger and two others "tied him up with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones".
asserted
passenger → tell → headphones
"Another pilot who was sitting in the passenger cabin went in to replace the additional pilot, and they essentially landed the plane," he added.
asserted
he → sit → plane
The Flydubai flight eventually landed at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, and the passengers were later taken to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on a repatriation aircraft.
asserted
passengers → land → aircraft
They were greeted by crowds of onlookers playing music, singing, dancing and waving Israeli flags.
asserted
They → greet → flags
"Thank God I'm alive," passenger Haim Lazarovich told journalists, adding that "the most terrifying moment in this flight was when the pilot loses control".
asserted
pilot → thank → control
Oran Choen, an 18-year-old passenger, described the incident as "a very tough moment".
"Maybe it was five minutes, but it feels like hell - I heard my brother behind me scream that we was going to die," he added.
asserted
he → describe → me
A paramedic from Israel's ambulance service later told the BBC that a number of people were "very emotional and crying as they came off the plane".
asserted
they → tell → plane
The stabbed pilot, Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, was taken to hospital but is in stable condition, according to the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia.
uncertain
pilot → stab → Arabia
Netanyahu praised Machchhar as a "true hero" of "extraordinary bravery".
asserted
Netanyahu → praise → bravery
The attacker was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities.
asserted
attacker → arrest → authorities
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has called it an "attempted jihadist terror attack".
asserted
Katz → call → it
No official motive for the incident or further information has been given.
asserted
motive → give → incident
The Aporia
