The United Arab Emirates was investigating Thursday a suspected terrorist link to an attack aboard a flight to Israel after passengers intervened to avert a crash, officials said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave passengers a hero's welcome Wednesday in Israel after their arrival from Saudi Arabia, where the plane made an emergency landing hours earlier.
Netanyahu credited flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, and passengers with averting catastrophe after a co-pilot allegedly stabbed Machchhar and tried to crash the plane.
Passengers described rushing the cockpit after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing about 17,000 feet of altitude within a minute, according to Flightradar24.
The UAE's chief prosecutor said authorities launched an investigation into the incident, including the possibility of "terrorist activity or intent."
Israeli officials called the incident "an attempted terrorist attack," though in a CBS News interview, Netanyahu did not rule out mental health as a cause.
Netanyahu said he expected the UAE to lead the investigation, with Israel joining.
"He will be, I assume, moved very quickly to Dubai," Netanyahu told CBS News of the alleged attacker, who was being questioned in Saudi Arabia.
Airline flydubai said all passengers – 166 of the 174 were Israeli, according to media reports – were safe, but the reasons for the altercation were unknown.
"During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board," Netanyahu said in a video message.
"I salute these heroes," he said of the passengers, adding, "They prevented a major disaster."
He later hailed the wounded pilot, Machchhar, for his "extraordinary bravery," saying he prevented a "catastrophic midair disaster."
In a Fox News interview, Netanyahu also praised an Israeli passenger who helped overpower the attacker, identifying him as only Yanik and describing him as a plumber.
"An amazing act of heroism – of his, of the Indian pilot, of the people who helped them. They stopped a disaster that could have been global," he said.
India's embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was being treated at a hospital in the country, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as a "hero."
"His valor helped save hundreds of lives," Modi said.
Another flydubai plane carrying the passengers landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, hours after their initial flight was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Footage shared by Netanyahu's office showed Netanyahu meeting passengers after their arrival in Tel Aviv and embracing a man in a bloodied shirt.
Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon described the plane as "pretty much out of control" as the incident unfolded over Jordan.
"The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and carry out a suicide attack on the plane," she told reporters via speakerphone, held by her mother, at Ben Gurion Airport.
"It was on its way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him," she said.
The airline said another "on-duty flydubai crew" traveling on the flight diverted and landed the aircraft safely and it was suspending flights to Israel during an investigation.
Israel's Foreign Ministry director-general called it "an attempted terrorist attack against Israelis, the UAE, and the Abraham Accords," the 2020 deal establishing formal ties between the two countries.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he spoke with his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and agreed "to collaborate against extremist elements seeking to harm security and undermine stability."
U.S. President Donald Trump, after discussing the incident with Netanyahu, said, "It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or a whack-job."
