Alleged video of'screaming and crying during flydubai plane crash'.. what is it for?

A video clip spread on social media allegedly linked to the incident of changing the course of a Fly Dubai flight that was heading to Tel Aviv. The video spread widely around the world, as it was circulated in many languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

The video was filmed from an airplane window, while the sound of screaming can be heard in the background of the scene. The claim was accompanied by a misleading description that said: “Screaming and crying: documentation from inside the plane that was heading from Dubai to Tel Aviv.”

Upon analyzing the video visually, we found that its shooting angle indicated that the plane was about to land at Dubai Airport, which contradicts the fact that the plane was flying in northwestern Saudi Arabia, before it issued a “distress call” requesting a landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk. Although the original version of the video has not been found yet, the results of examining the video through artificial intelligence auditing tools indicate that the scenes are real.

The Arabic website Ofoq News determined the direction of the plane by comparing the spatial evidence shown during the video with what satellite footage and Google Maps of Dubai Airport show. You can also watch a video published by travel blogger "snakesolidus" on his YouTube channel a year ago, where the same evidence can be observed when the blogger was on a plane leaving Dubai Airport, starting at minute 2:48.

Examination of the video showed that the sound heard in the background was taken from another clip of an incident involving a flight experiencing turbulence over the Andes Mountains in Argentina. The sound is available in the background of a video documenting the flight incident over the Andes Mountains, on a TikTok account dated June 24, 2022.

The clip's circulation coincides with the emergency landing of a Flydubai plane at Tabuk Airport on Wednesday morning. A company spokesman told Ofoq News Network that the flight path, which was heading to Tel Aviv, was diverted and landed in Saudi Arabia, after an argument broke out inside the cockpit.

The spokesman added that the motive behind the incident is not yet clear. The spokesman stated, "The plane was successfully secured by the Flydubai crew members who were on board the flight."

He added that the company sent two replacement planes to Tabuk to assist the passengers and crew of the flight that was diverted, noting that an investigation has been opened into the incident. “At this early stage, the causes and motives behind this event are still unknown and subject to an official investigation,” the spokesman said, calling on “all parties to refrain from making premature speculation while the authorities gather the facts.”

Flight tracking data, seen by Ufoq News, shows that the plane descended 17,400 feet - from an altitude of 34,000 feet to about 16,600 feet - over northwest Saudi Arabia in just over two minutes, and then sent an emergency signal before landing in Saudi Arabia. While two Israeli sources told Ofoq News that the co-pilot of the Fly Dubai flight may have tried to hijack the plane to shoot it down or take hostages.