Flydubai co-pilot attacks pilot with axe, UAE says
What happened
A Flydubai co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash axe and tried to take control of a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, the UAE said.
The UAE attorney general said the co-pilot was carrying out an attempted terrorist attack on Flight FZ1073 on September 30.
The plane carried 172 passengers and crew, and media reports and witnesses said they subdued the co-pilot after the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said most people aboard were Israeli citizens and identified the injured captain as Indian national Smit Machchhar.
The Indian embassy in Riyadh said Machchhar was in a Tabuk hospital and reportedly stable; Flydubai later said the captain returned to the UAE.
Investigators are examining the incident's circumstances, motives, possible links, and physical and digital evidence, the attorney general said.
Summary written by AI from 1 independent source (CNBC) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-10-02 05:57 UTCEuronews · euronews.com ↗
- 2026-10-03 12:34 UTCCNBC · cnbc.com ↗
- 2026-10-03 13:32 UTCThe Hindu · thehindu.com ↗
- 2026-10-04 05:45 UTCFBC News · fbcnews.com.fj ↗
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