The UAE attorney general said the co-pilot attacked Captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit’s emergency crash axe and tried to seize control of the aircraft in an attempted terrorist attack. Passengers and crew subdued the suspect, and additional pilots aboard landed the jet safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Flydubai has suspended Tel Aviv operations until further notice at the authorities’ request.
The suspect, identified in media reports as 29-year-old Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, was transferred to the UAE, which is leading the investigation. He told investigators he intended to crash the aircraft in Israel, ABC News reported. Investigators’ working assessment was that he acted alone, while they examined possible identification with al Qaeda ideology, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. Oman had previously barred him from flying over concerns about radical ideological views, the Wall Street Journal reported.