JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia this morning after one of the pilots allegedly stabbed the other pilot and was apparently trying to crash the plane with everyone on board. The plane was carrying many Israeli passengers who now have arrived safely back in Israel. Officials there are calling it an attempted terrorist attack. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Tel Aviv and joins us now. Hi there.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey.
SUMMERS: Kat, what do we know so far?
LONSDORF: Yeah. It's been a very dramatic day here, as we've all been trying to figure out more information about what exactly happened on this flight. This was a Flydubai plane with many Israeli passengers on board, like you said, and it made an emergency landing at the Tabuk Airport, which is near the border with Jordan in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities said they received a distress call from the flight before it landed and then said both the pilot and copilot were taken to the hospital for injuries sustained on board once it did land. All passengers were confirmed to be safe and accounted for.
There's still a lot we don't know, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a video statement saying he spoke with one of the passengers who told him the plane went into a spin and began to plunge as one of the pilots was trying to sabotage the aircraft systems after stabbing his copilot. Flydubai, the airline, confirmed that the plane landed after a, quote, "altercation" occurred in the flight deck.
Netanyahu said that there happened to be another flight crew on the plane who managed to stabilize the situation and then land it. He said the attacker is being questioned now by Saudi authorities, and Saudi officials have confirmed that they have opened an investigation into the whole thing.
SUMMERS: Kat, I know it's still early, but any sense yet about the motive behind this?
LONSDORF: Well, Israeli officials are calling this an attempted terrorist attack, but a statement put out by Flydubai urged caution on that, saying that the motives behind the incident are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. This all comes at a particularly political time here in Israel, as national elections are less than a month away. Those elections will determine whether Netanyahu remains prime minister. He's been campaigning on this idea that he alone can protect Israelis from the threats that Israel faces. So this incident on the plane will almost certainly be a talking point in the coming weeks as that election grows closer.
SUMMERS: Kat, I know that you were at the airport today as the passengers finally arrived in Israel. Tell us what you heard and saw.
LONSDORF: Well, it was really hectic. The arrivals area was filled with journalists waiting for the passengers to arrive, and there were also family members there waiting, some with, you know, balloons or flowers to welcome their loved ones back after such a scary experience. The passengers were flown into Tel Aviv from Saudi Arabia on a different Flydubai flight, and they arrived many hours after their original scheduled landing.
The passengers slowly emerged from the arrivals door, dragging suitcases behind them. You know, some were crying, some were smiling, some were looking really relieved, and others were just looking really tired. There were also quite a few families. You know, these flights between Israel and Dubai happen several times a day. It's a main connecting flight for people going on vacation.
I talked to one man named Dan Zoler. He was traveling with his wife and two small children on the flight, and he told me he saw three of the other passengers throw themselves on the copilot who was attacking his colleague and capture him. He said he was trying to distract his young son throughout the whole ordeal, telling him that this is not normal.
DAN ZOLER: I told him that it's something that happened like once in 25 years, that I want him to be calm. And we are happy to come back.
LONSDORF: That seemed like the overwhelming feeling from people, just happy to have two feet back on solid ground.
SUMMERS: Yeah. I'm sure - just a lot of relief. Kat, do we know what happens next?
LONSDORF: Well, it's an ongoing investigation, and there's still so much we don't know about motive, about what exactly happened on the plane. And those details should hopefully become clearer in the coming days.
SUMMERS: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv, thanks.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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