Passengers say a pilot on a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight was stabbed before the plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia - here's what we know so far
The airport where the plane landed says both the captain and first officer sustained injuries - but does not say how. Both have been taken to hospital
It now appears this may have been an attempted hijacking by one of the pilots, writes Jon Donnison
One passenger reports "terrible screams throughout the plane" before "three to five guys burst into the cockpit" and subdued the attacker
Another passenger says "we took control of the flight" from "an assailant with a knife" - while two other pilots, sitting at the back, reportedly came forward to land the plane
The Flydubai plane signalled an emergency code two hours into the flight. It then switched to a hijacking code but returned to a general emergency signal
Data shows how the plane plummeted 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes
A Flydubai plane sent to recover the passengers stranded at Tabuk airport after a reported stabbing on a previous flight has landed.
The earlier Dubai to Tel Aviv flight (FZ1073) was diverted to Tabuk airport, in Saudi Arabia, after an emergency signal - and later a hijacking warning - was broadcast.
Flydubai reports that its recovery plane (FZ8455) landed in Tabuk at 12:43 BST (14:43 local time).
A passenger on the flight has told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the plane lost control and began to "dive" about an hour before the scheduled landing.
Dalia Shpigel told the paper that "suddenly there were terrible screams throughout the plane" before "three to five guys burst into the cockpit" and subdued the attacker and began treating the injured pilot.
"We realised that the situation was stabilising and continued the flight. Gradually, information began to emerge about what had happened in the cockpit," Shpigel said.
She said the "young men" then took charge and began tending to passengers as the plane altered its course to land in Saudi Arabia.
"Right now, we're all here in the terminal, and medical teams are examining us," she added.
The BBC has not verified this account. We're yet to receive an official statement confirming the nature of the incident and how many people were involved.
Sebastian Usher
Global affairs correspondent
The incident on the Flydubai flight comes at an even more febrile time than usual in Israel, with tightly contested elections just weeks away.
Whatever the facts turn out to be, it's bound to be used on all sides in the campaign.
The far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has, as expected, fired the first salvo, denouncing it as an attempted act of terrorism that shows that Israel must fight until all its enemies are defeated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to send the same message. On Tuesday, he posted a video from an airbase warning that there were indications that Israel's enemies would mount an attack ahead of the elections.
One of his main opposition rivals, Yair Lapid has moved quickly to say that nothing in what Netanyahu said remotely resembled what has just happened. Another party leader, Avigdor Liebrman, has accused the government's supporters of trying to turn the incident into "political capital".
And in the midst of this, the air route between Israel and the UAE - which has been one of the fruits of Emiratis signing up to the Abraham Accords - has been put in doubt.
Transportation minister Miri Regev is reported to have demanded that all Flydubai flights should be suspended.
The diverted Israel-bound Flydubai airplane is one of the airline's 10 daily flight flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The airline's first flights depart Dubai at 05:15 local time (02:00 BST), with the last one setting off at 19:15.
Ten flights also depart from Tel Aviv headed to Dubai each day, with the last one leaving Israel at 22:50 local time (20:50 BST).
The majority of direct flights on this route are chartered by Flydubai and scheduled to take three hours and 25 minutes. Other airlines, such as Arkia and Israir, also have flights on the route but they are not as frequent.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) established diplomatic relations in 2020 under a US-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords. The deal resulted in the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE. Saudi Arabian airspace was blocked to Israeli air traffic before the deal.
A video shared by Israeli media appears to show a witness on board who says "an assailant with a knife" stabbed one of the pilots.
BBC Verify has checked the video, which shows no sign of AI manipulation and do not appear to have been posted online before the event.
In the video, the man, who is speaking to camera from a plane seat, says: "We took control of the flight and an assailant with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots."
He says they got the alleged assailant out of the cockpit, and everything is "okay now".
"There’s a pilot who’s seriously wounded.
"There’s another pilot who was also wounded but he’s managing to land the plane - he’s with two crew members we made sure to shut the door I love you and all is okay."
He adds that the reported suspect is neutralised.
We're yet to receive an official statement confirming the nature of the incident or how many people were involved.
Jon Donnison
Middle East correspondent in Jerusalem
As more eyewitness testimony comes in from the passengers on board, this is developing into an extraordinary and terrifying story.
The plane sent a signal saying it had been hijacked. But it now appears it was an attempted hijacking not by the passengers but one of the pilots.
People on board have described how the plane began to plummet 17,000ft (5,200m) in a matter of minutes.
There are reports there was a fight between the pilot and the co-pilot with at least one of them being stabbed.
One passenger said people then broke into the cockpit to help tackle one of the pilots and tie him down. Mobile phone video shows several people on board covered in blood.
Investigators will now be looking at whether one of the pilots intended to deliberately crash the aircraft and if so whether he was politically motivated.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has posted on social media about the incident, although he does not seem to be speaking on behalf of the government.
Ben-Gvir says a "terrorist… planned to crash a plane and murder" those on board.
He thanks the "heroic passengers", and says that Israel's "security doctrine" must go up a level, adding that the country must not stop until it has "total victory" on multiple fronts.
We have not heard much from the Israeli government, beyond an initial statement that the situation was under control and efforts were being made to bring passengers home.
Yair Golan, who leads Israel's left-wing Democrats party, praises the "brave" passengers on board, while denouncing the government for using the incident to "score cheap political points".
Warning: This post contains an image some readers may find distressing
A video shared by Israeli media seems to show someone on board the flight describing what happened.
BBC Verify has checked the video, which shows no sign of AI manipulation and does not appear to have been posted online before the event.
The man, who has blood on his face is filming himself, says: "We're here – the plane – we’ve just taken control of the terrorists. We’re about to land.
"Anyone who hears me: we need help. We’re landing in Tabuk."
He adds: "All onboard the flight are healthy and in one piece – aside from the pilot. We need help."
We're yet to receive an official statement confirming the nature of the incident or how many people were involved.
Image source, Reuters
By Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify has shared flight-tracking data with aviation experts to better understand what may have happened onboard the Flydubai plane, after it experienced an extreme fall and then rapid fluctuation in altitude in such a short period of time.
The data on Flightradar24 shows the aircraft initially plunged by about 17,000ft (5,200m), climbed 5,000ft and then fell another 7,000ft to settle into a relatively stable altitude of 15,000ft. All of this took place over the course of less than five minutes.
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at Kingston University, says that while sudden drops in altitude can be caused by incidents like rapid decompression, the plane having transmitted an emergency code for “unlawful interference” suggests the drop was not accidental or down to a technical fault.
While it is still unclear what happened on board, Chan adds that the sudden changes in altitude may have been caused by the pilots jostling for control of the yoke - a wheel-like device that controls the plane’s steering.
One pilot stabbed the other, passenger claims
As we reported earlier, passengers have been telling Israeli media that two pilots sat at the back of the plane helped land the aircraft after the altercation.
Another passenger, Almog Itali, tells the media these two pilots were "relief pilots" who were supposed to be operating a subsequent flight.
One of them was British, Itali says. He adds that the second relief pilot was European but did not specify their nationality.
Itali says the exact details of what happened in the cockpit are unclear but says the relief pilots stabilised the plane and landed it in Saudi Arabia.
"There are quite a few versions," he says after speaking to people from the front of the plane. "What is clear is that there were two pilots in the front - one stabbed the other."
We are yet to hear from officials regarding the details of what occurred on the flight - including the nationalities of those involved. Earlier, the company that owns Tabuk airport where the plane landed said the captain and first officer had sustained injuries.
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Reports are still emerging about what happened on board the Flydubai plane. Here is what witnesses and anonymous officials have said so far.
'They think they are going': There were panicked scenes as the plane plunged 17,000 feet - the mother of one passenger reports her saying "all the people, they scream, they think they are going"
'One pilot stabbed the other': Unnamed officials tell Israeli media that one pilot attacked the other with a knife, seemingly to "either hijack the plane... or crash it" - although it's important to state the motive has not been confirmed, and we are yet to get official statements
'Tied down': An Israeli passenger on board tells journalists the crew asked for help from passengers to tackle the attacker and tie him down
'Covered in blood': Witnesses have described violent scenes - one said "there are people here with shirts covered in blood"
'Take control': Two pilots who were at the back of the plane came forward to help land it, one passenger says: "I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane"
The company that owns Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia - where the plane was diverted - has just put out a statement.
It says both the captain and first officer on the Flydubai plane sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. It does not state the cause of the injuries.
The airport's air traffic control centre received a distress call from the Flydubai plane at 08:44 local time, the statement says, during which the plane requested an emergency landing
The aircaft landed safely around an hour after, the statement adds.
We're getting reports that a recovery flight is on its way to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, to pick up passengers from the diverted Israel-bound flight.
According to Flightradar24, a separate Flydubai flight (FZ8455) set off from Dubai just before 12:56 local time (09:56 BST) and is due to land in Tabuk at 14:41 local time (12:41 BST).
The flight tracking company says that once the airplane lands in Tabuk, it will take passengers to Tel Aviv, their original destination.
We can now bring you more from Yasmin Abukasis, who has been speaking to journalists from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, where the plane was due to land.
Yasmin says her daughter, who was on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, phoned her to say she heard screaming on the plane as a pilot called for help.
"The plane start to lose control. So all the people, they scream, they think they are going," Yasmin tells AP news agency.
Speaking to Reuters, Yasmin says two other pilots took control of the plane as other passengers ran towards a man who had a knife.
You can listen to Yasmin's interview in the video below.
Mother of passenger on Flydubai flight describes incident
By Paul Brown
The flight bound for Tel Aviv dropped extremely rapidly over Saudi Arabia just over two hours after take-off from Dubai, flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 examined by BBC Verify shows.
Just before 05:21 UTC (06:21 BST; 08:21 local time) the plane was cruising at a recorded altitude of 34,000 feet (10,400m).
In less than two minutes it had descended more than 17,000 feet (5,200m).
An emergency signal was issued from the plane about 10 minutes later and the available data shows significant ongoing fluctuations in altitude throughout the rest of the flight to Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, external, a female passenger describes the "very stressful" moment people on board realised the plane was rapidly descending.
"We understood the pilots lost control," she says, recounting terrified screams from passengers.
She tells the newspaper that one pilot suffered serious stab wounds before the attacker could be dragged off him.
"There are people here with shirts covered in blood," she says, adding: "Now we are fine and want to return home."
More now from Israeli media, who have been speaking to unnamed Israeli officials.
"A very serious disaster was averted," one of those officials tells Channel 12.
The Jerusalem Post also cites an unnamed Israeli official as saying a "major disaster was narrowly avoided".
More reports are emerging in Israeli media about what unfolded on the Dubai to Tel Aviv flight.
An unnamed passenger tells the Jerusalem Post , externalthat one pilot was stabbed by another, but passengers near the front of the plane helped force the attacker from the cockpit.
The witness says two other pilots were on board, at the back of the plane.
"I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane," the passenger tells the Jerusalem Post.
The passenger also say the injured pilot was given life-saving care by a dentist on the flight.
