Mother on Fly Dubai hijack: "I told my daughters to pray"

Lital Hirschel-Shachar, 39, who was on last week's Fly Dubai hijack attempt with her four daughters, has described the moments of terror as the plane plunged toward the ground. The family was returning from a holiday in Singapore and Thailand when the flight turned into a nightmare.

"Everything happened so fast, and the plane just started diving downward," Hirschel-Shachar told the New York Post. "It was so frightening and insane. We all thought we were going to die."

Hirschel-Shachar's daughters are aged 14, 11, 7 and 5. During the worst moments, as the aircraft dropped sharply after the Omani co-pilot attacked the captain, she did one thing above all, she said.

"I spoke to Hashem non-stop, with emunah that tefillah was the only thing that could save us," she said. "I told my daughters to pray as well."

Hirschel-Shachar said that Yaniv Chion, one of the heroes of the flight who overpowered the hijacker and broke into the cockpit, was seated behind her on the plane. "It was simply miracle upon miracle upon miracle," she said.

According to the New York Post report, the family is now at home recovering from the traumatic event. Hirschel-Shachar's seven-year-old daughter is running a fever as a result of the stress of the incident.

Yaniv Chion with bloodstains on his shirt after subduing the hijacker (Photo: social media)

Hirschel-Shachar has also had to contend with responses on social media and claims that the hijack attempt was staged, which have undermined the terror she and the other 173 passengers endured.

The dramatic incident took place on the flight from Dubai to Israel when Omani co-pilot Muammar al-Hamami attacked the Indian captain and began diving the aircraft. The wounded captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing four Israeli passengers to storm in and overpower the attacker.

According to technical data that has been released, the plane dropped from an altitude of approximately 30,875 feet to 16,750 feet in just 29 seconds — a loss of more than 4.3 kilometres in altitude in less than half a minute.