Passengers and a gravely wounded pilot averted a potential 9/11-style terror attack yesterday after a bloody tussle with a knifeman at 34,000ft.
asserted
Passengers → wound → ft
The brave flight captain was stabbed by his co-pilot but managed to open the flight-deck door and call for help.
At which point passengers piled into the cockpit and overpowered the attacker.
The extraordinary melee on Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv sent the plane hurtling towards the Saudi Arabian desert.
asserted
melee → stab → desert
Israel believes the co-pilot was planning to seize the controls and crash the plane into a target in Israel, possibly a skyscraper.
uncertain
pilot → believe → Israel
Passengers and crew wrestled the knifeman to the floor before a passenger stepped in and managed to lift the Flydubai plane skywards.
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passenger → wrestle → plane
Reports suggested off-duty pilots aboard the aircraft then took over the controls.
uncertain
pilots → suggest → controls
One of them was said to be British.
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One → say → them
Video footage showed at least one wounded man and some on board covered in blood, with others screaming in the background and overhead lockers swinging open.
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lockers → show → background
Graphic footage filmed by passengers on the flight showed wounded pilot Smit Machchhar lying on the floor as others tended to him
The pilot was praised by Benjamin Netanyahu for preventing a 'catastrophic mid-air disaster'
The wounded pilot – named as Indian national Smit Machchhar - is credited with saving the lives of 174 people on board
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the wounded pilot – named as Indian national Smit Machchhar – saying: 'Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster.
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he → film → disaster
He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.'
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He → save → citizens
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, said: 'Whoever tried to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis must pay as if he [is a murderer].
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he → say → Israelis
Him and every state or terrorist organisation that sent him [must pay].'
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that → send → him
The Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, where the passengers were transferred to another Tel Aviv flight.
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passengers → make → flight
An Israeli security source said: 'This is thought to be a 9/11 scenario where the co-pilot kills the pilot and crashes the plane inside of Israel with all the passengers, mostly Israelis.'
The co-pilot was arrested in Saudi Arabia but his identity, intention and motive have not yet been confirmed.
Mr Netanyahu stopped short of labelling the incident a terrorist attack in a statement, referring to it only as an apparent plot 'to crash the plane with everyone on board'.
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Netanyahu → say → board
Officials are unclear on the desired target but several sources pointed to the possibility of a tower block in Tel Aviv.
uncertain
sources → desire → Aviv
Both Israeli and non-Israeli airlines had been ordered to 'ramp up' security.
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airlines → order → security
The drama happened two hours into the flight which left Dubai at just after 7am local time.
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which → happen → am
A handful of passengers heard a raised voice leaking from the cockpit.
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handful → hear → cockpit
Passengers, many of them suited businessmen, who had scarcely noticed their neighbours until now, began exchanging looks over uncleared breakfast trays.
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who → notice → trays
But then alarm registered in the faces of some of the flight crew.
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alarm → register → crew
Always the time for everyone else, remarked one passenger later, 'to start freaking out'.
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passenger → remark → ?
But by now the plane was out of control, hurtling towards the Saudi Arabian desert – falling a terrifying 14,000ft in 30 seconds, according to flight data.
uncertain
plane → hurtle → data
Behind the cockpit's locked door, the pilot and co-pilot were wrestling – the latter having stabbed the former with a knife.
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latter → lock → knife
While confusion remains over the co-pilot's motivation, he appeared to have no intention of landing the aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at 9.05am as air traffic control expected.
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control → remain → 9.05am
The outside world first learned something was up when the alert code '7700', meaning a general emergency, was picked up by air traffic control.
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code → learn → control
That was followed eight minutes later by a '7500' – unlawful interference or hijacking.
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That → follow → 7500
How the drama unspooled after that is uncertain.
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unspooled → unspoole → that
One passenger told Israeli media that a group of men 'burst' into the cockpit.
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group → tell → cockpit
Aviation experts last night said the doors are normally firmly locked and reinforced.
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doors → say → ?
However, pilots can unlock the door from their seats.
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pilots → unlock → seats
Last night Mr Netanyahu confirmed that the pilot opened the cockpit door, adding: 'He is a true hero.'
Yitzhak Lieber, one of the passengers who helped to restrain the terrorist, sent a video to his children, saying: 'There is a pilot who was seriously injured, they've evacuated him.
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they → confirm → him
We overpowered the terrorist and he is tied up.'
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he → overpower → terrorist
In the film, later posted on social media, he adds: 'It was a very difficult incident.
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It → post → media
We'll probably come home in a few hours.
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We → come → hours
I need to change my clothes!
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I → need → clothes
Everything is full of blood, we caught him...
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we → catch → him
we caught the terrorist.'
asserted
we → catch → terrorist
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets passenger Yaniv Hayun, who recounted pulling back on the controls after the attacker had been subdued
Passengers filed out of the rear of the plane, which sustained damage to the rudder, after it landed safely in Saudi Arabia
Another passenger, Dr Shota Musev, a dentist, said he treated the injured pilot in midair for severe wounds to his head and cuts on his fingers.
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he → greet → fingers
Dr Musev said he was one of the first passengers to reach the cockpit after the attack, and that the pilot had been thrown on the ground.
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pilot → say → ground
During a meeting with Mr Netanyahu, passenger Yaniv Hayun recounted pulling back on the controls after the attacker had been subdued.
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attacker → recount → controls
When Mr Netanyahu asked, 'You pulled them?' Hayun replied: 'Yes, I watch Air Crash Investigation.'
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I → ask → Investigation
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
