Fly Dubai passengers recount terror attack mid-flight

One hundred seventy-four passengers who survived an attempted hijacking on Fly Dubai flight FZ 1073 landed safely in Israel Wednesday evening, after hours of terror over the Middle East. As the plane touched down at Ben Gurion Airport, passengers broke into emotional song and tears of relief, recounting the seconds in which the aircraft plunged and the courage of the Israelis who overpowered the attacker and prevented a catastrophe.

The incident began when the 39-year-old Omani co-pilot attacked and severely stabbed the Indian captain, Sumit Machachar. According to the investigation, the co-pilot used the emergency axe stored in the cockpit. As a result of the struggle and the severe injury to the captain, the aircraft lost altitude at a dizzying speed, entered violent turbulence, and tilted at extreme angles.

Passenger Danielle Almalich described the moments of terror in the air: "We felt the plane falling at top speed and everyone's screams of terror. We didn't have time to think or speak or breathe. It was seconds." She added, describing the feeling inside the cabin: "We were certain we would all die. I sent goodbye messages to our parents. It was stressful beyond measure."

As the plane plunged and panic spread through the cabin, it was several Israeli passengers whose quick thinking prevented disaster. Elad, who was on the plane with his family, described the start of the drama and the subduing of the attacker: "It was a miracle. A woman who got up to use the restroom near the cockpit heard screams and shouted to her husband. Yaniv is the hero of the flight, he overpowered the terrorist."

Elad went on to describe the free fall: "The plane was at impossible angles. Everything goes through your head, all the things I can't say again in front of the girls."

Among the heroes who acted in the cockpit was Mossayev Shota, a dentist who identified what was happening and ran forward to fight the attacker. Shota recounted the rapid neutralization: "We tied up the terrorist, made several bindings, both legs and hands. He was thrashing so we tied him more, and then he calmed down and understood he was in our hands."

After neutralizing the attacker, Shota provided urgent medical care to the bleeding captain, who suffered severe injuries to his head and hands: "The pilot was very badly injured with very heavy bleeding from the head and hands. I was the only doctor on the plane. I managed to stop the blood and the bleeding stopped completely."

The Indian captain, Sumit Machachar, who has 15 years of aviation experience, managed despite his injuries to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to break in and overpower the co-pilot. During the incident, another pilot, from Fiji, entered the cockpit and managed to take control of the aircraft, which had been damaged during the rapid dive.

Shota summed up the feeling of miracle at the moment control returned to the crew: "We thought we were going to die 100 percent. The Israelis managed the flight perfectly."

Upon arrival in Israel, Magen David Adom teams evacuated a passenger in his 50s who was lightly injured to hospital, and the passengers concluded emotionally that only thanks to the resourcefulness and courage of the Israelis did the incident end in an open miracle. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was among those who greeted the returning passengers and met with several of them.

Netanyahu spoke with Yaniv Chiyon, one of the passengers who overpowered the attacker, and told him: "You don't need to apologize, you're the hero. We are a nation of lions, a nation like a lion. I look at you and I see a lion, and I see a great hero. Simply unbelievable what you did."

In footage circulated on social media, Israelis were heard singing aboard the Emirati plane the saying of Rebbe Nachman: "The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all."

The Foreign Ministry held a briefing for all Israeli ambassadors and heads of missions around the world, in which it emphasized the message that this was an attempted terror attack against Israelis, the United Arab Emirates and the Abraham Accords, and that terror will not harm the strong relations between Israel and the UAE and regional developments.