The replacement Flydubai plane arrives in Israel... and Netanyahu receives its passengers

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The replacement plane, operated by Flydubai, landed on Wednesday evening at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, carrying the passengers of the flight that was forced to change its course, following an accident that occurred inside the cockpit.

The plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport at 15:34 GMT, while Israeli media reported that 174 passengers were on board the flight, including 27 children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives the plane's passengers at Ben Gurion Airport, according to what Israeli media reported, while a spokesman for his office said that he issued instructions to intensify security measures on board the planes of Israeli and non-Israeli companies.

Netanyahu had previously announced that one of the pilots on the flight had tried to shoot down the plane, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident as an "attempted terrorist attack."

Netanyahu said, in a video message, that one of the pilots “stabbed his colleague and apparently tried to shoot down the plane with all its passengers,” noting that the accident occurred while the plane was approaching Israel. He praised the passengers who intervened to control the attacker, saying that they contributed to “avoiding a major disaster.”

On the other hand, Flydubai said that the accident involved “an altercation in the cockpit,” stressing that the causes of the altercation and the emergency landing “are still unknown and subject to an official investigation,” and that all passengers are fine.

It is noteworthy that flight FZ 1073 was forced to land at Tabuk Airport, after it was crossing the airspace on its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

According to data from the Flight Radar 24 website, which tracks air traffic, the plane suddenly lost altitude during the flight, falling from about 34,000 feet at 5:21 GMT to less than 17,000 feet one minute later.

Passengers on board the plane were reported to have witnessed an argument inside the cockpit, and some of them spoke of one of the pilots being stabbed and losing control of the plane for a short period, before passengers and crew members intervened.