A flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia after one of the plane’s two pilots allegedly attempted to stab the other in the cockpit on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is known for lying, said it was too early to declare a motive for the incident, which occurred on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

“It’s too early to say, the attacking pilot is … now being investigated in Saudi Arabia. I think he’ll be taken to the Emirates, where he comes from, or at least where he left, where he flew off from, and we’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on the network’s Hannity programme.

The Flydubai flight FZ1073 was diverted as it flew from Dubai to Tel Aviv through Jordanian airspace, prompting Israel to deploy warplanes, the a news agency reported. Passengers on the flight reached Israel safely on Wednesday after customers and crew foiled the co-pilot’s attempt to crash the aircraft, Israeli officials said.

The struggle began when he stabbed the pilot and sent the jet plunging nearly 14,000 feet (4,267m) in less than 30 seconds.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had noted that one of the pilots had stabbed the other and then tried to crash the plane. He added that Israel was preparing for other “potential threats” after the incident.

“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” a Flydubai spokesperson said in a statement. “We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts.”

At Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, where the plane landed, officials said both the plane’s captain and first officer were taken to hospital after sustaining injuries, according to a statement from the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, carried by the Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television.

India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia later identified the injured captain as Indian national Smit Machchhar. The embassy said he was receiving treatment at a hospital in Tabuk and was reported to be in stable condition, adding that it was in contact with his family and Saudi authorities.

The UAE has become a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020.

What happened?

Footage taken on board the plane appears to show the injured pilot lying on the cabin floor with several stab wounds, and a passenger with a bloody wound to the head.

The leaders of Israel and India hailed Indian pilot Smit Machchhar as a hero for saving passengers after his colleague stabbed him.

Machchhar was covered with blood on the floor when he managed to click the release to open the cockpit door, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters.

That allowed passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot and enabled a second pair of Flydubai pilots on board to land the jet in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

“He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu said in a post on X. “All passengers are out of harm’s way,” he had earlier said in a video statement released by his office.

In a post on X early on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Machchhar, calling him a “hero”.

In another video, passengers wept and cried out in distress as the aircraft shook.

Yasmin Abukasis, the mother of one of the passengers on board, said her daughter Miriam thought she was going to die. “The plane started to lose control,” she told journalists at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, before other pilots on board took control of the aircraft.

Flight tracking data indicated the plane descended about 14,000 feet (4,300 metres) in less than 30 seconds about two and a half hours after leaving Dubai. Flightradar24 said on X that an initial general emergency signal designated by code 7700 was issued at about 05:31 GMT and was later changed to another emergency signal with code 7500 declaring “unlawful interference”.

Passenger Dalia Shpigel told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that some people seated towards the front of the plane broke into the cockpit after the plane began to descend and they realised something was wrong.

“An hour before landing, we felt that there was no control over the plane, that it was starting to jump,” she said. “The guys saw that the plane had begun to dive and broke into the cockpit.”

Netanyahu said he later spoke to one of the Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit and overpowered one of the pilots who was reportedly trying to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.

“I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.”

Passenger Yitzhak Lieber, reportedly one of the men who overpowered the co-pilot, sent a video to his family from the plane, international media reported. In it, he says: “There is a pilot who was seriously injured, they’ve evacuated him. We overpowered the terrorist and he is tied up.”

The mostly Israeli passengers were later flown to Tel Aviv on a replacement flight, Tabuk airport confirmed.

The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu was at Ben Gurion’s Terminal 1 building to greet passengers when the replacement flight landed shortly before 4pm GMT. Families were waiting in a designated area set up for them in the domestic arrivals hall while security officials prepared to interview them.

Timeline of events (GMT)

03:05 – Flight FZ1073 takes off from Dubai

05:21 – Altitude fluctuations begin

05:22 – Aircraft drops more than 14,000ft in less than 30 seconds

05:31 – Signal from aircraft changes to 7700 (general emergency)

05:38 – Signal changes to 7500 (unlawful interference)

06:45 – Aircraft lands at Tabuk regional airport