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Image source, EPA\/ShutterstockImage caption, <\/p>\nPlane ‘went into a spin’ after one pilot stabbed another – a recappublished at 15:45 BST<\/p>\n
15:45 BST<\/p>\n
Charlotte Hadfield
Live reporter<\/p>\n
Image source, EPA\/ShutterstockImage caption, <\/p>\n
A Flydubai plane at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel<\/p>\n
An Israel-bound plane plummeted 17,000ft in two minutes after one pilot stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane, according to Israel’s prime minister.<\/p>\n
Benjamin Netanyahu says he has spoken to an Israeli passenger<\/a> onboard the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv who described how the plane “went into a spin and began to descend”.<\/p>\n The passenger told him that “somehow he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and, together, they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft’s systems”.<\/p>\n Another crew member “entered the cockpit and managed to stabilise the aircraft”, Netanyahu says, as he praised the “heroes” who “saved many lives and prevented a major disaster”.<\/p>\n In a new statement<\/a>, Flydubai, says the plane was “successfully secured” by on-duty crew travelling on the flight who “diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport”.<\/p>\n The motives behind the attack remain unknown and are subject to a formal investigation, the airline says.<\/p>\n The pilot believed to have carried out the stabbing has been arrested and is being questioned by authorities in Saudi Arabia, according to Netanyahu. <\/p>\n A series of extraordinary witness accounts have emerged, including from one passenger who described hearing “terrible screams throughout the plane”<\/a> before “three to five guys burst into the cockpit” and subdued the attacker.<\/p>\n