Australian couple amongst passengers on diverted flydubai flight to Israel, embassy says | Flydubai airplane incident
Two Australian residents have been onboard a flight to Tel Aviv that was diverted after one of the pilots allegedly stabbed the other in an attack, in response to the Israeli embassy.
The passengers are a Jewish couple from Sydney, the embassy in Australia confirmed to the Guardian on Thursday. No additional particulars have been supplied.
The flydubai plane was travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel when it was compelled to make an emergency touchdown in Saudi Arabia.
One of the pilots, whom Israeli officers mentioned was an Omani citizen, is accused of stabbing his co-pilot. During the alleged assault, the plane plunged about 17,000 feet in just two minutes.
Passenger Yaniv Hayoun later recounted how he and different passengers heard screaming and felt stress because the airplane dived earlier than forcing their approach into the cockpit and discovering the attacker on the instrument panel.
“I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and dragged him out first,” Hayoun mentioned throughout a gathering with Netanyahu after the airplane had landed safely and the passengers have been flown to Israel. “He was attempting to destroy the devices to disable the airplane.”
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, mentioned the incident reminded him of the 11 September assaults.
“You have right here a really particular incident, and because of the actual heroism of some individuals on board, they have been saved.”
Newman mentioned heightened safety alerts had been issued following the assault.
“It simply reveals that … those who hate Israel additionally hate the peace.
“It’s an try and hit on the peace itself, on the Abraham Accords, and the relationships which Israel does have with Arab and Muslim nations.”
The Abraham Accords normalised relations between the UAE and Israel in 2020.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was too early to tell who was ultimately behind the the incident.
There are about 12,000 Australian residents dwelling in Israel and 25,000 within the UAE.
