An Israel-bound Flydubai flight lands in Saudi Arabia after co-pilots reportedly fight, triggering emergency and hijacking signals.
A Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Israel has landed in Saudi Arabia after a reported fight between the co-pilots.
The flight, which left Dubai early on Wednesday, signalled an emergency code about two hours into the journey, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Minutes later, the aircraft switched to a hijacking code before returning to a general emergency signal.
An Israeli passenger on board told journalists that the crew called for help and passengers helped restrain one of the pilots.
Israeli officials were quoted by local media as saying that “a very serious disaster was averted.”
The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where passengers are expected to continue their journey to Tel Aviv on a recovery flight.
According to Flightradar24, another Flydubai aircraft, flight FZ8455, left Dubai shortly before 12:56 local time and is expected to land in Tabuk at 14:41.
The recovery flight is expected to take the passengers to Tel Aviv, their original destination.
