The motive, background and affiliation of the Omani co-pilot who stabbed his captain in an apparent attempt to crash an Israel-bound flight from Dubai remains unknown, as international teams open investigations into the incident.
Israeli passengers intervened to stop the attack on Wednesday, restraining the co-pilot, while a reserve crew in the plane was able to stabilise the plummeting plane and ultimately land it safely in Saudi Arabia.
The plane had more than 170 people onboard and Israeli officials praised the bravery of those who intervened, announcing that four of the Israeli passengers would receive a “heroism” award for preventing a potential disaster.
Saudi investigators, who initially detained the co-pilot upon landing, were cooperating with the United Arab Emirates, the US, Oman and Israel to try to determine the attacker’s motive, a regional official familiar with the investigation said. “All possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into. Nothing is ruled out for now,” they told the Associated Press.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that it was still not known who may have been ultimately behind the apparent attempted attack. The Israeli prime minister told Fox News it was “too early to say” if there was any Iranian involvement.
“We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon,” Netanyahu said.
It came just days after Netanyahu warned of an unspecified security threat to Israel that could come during its October election. The Israeli military had said before the incident it had no specific intelligence of an imminent threat, while the opposition leader Yair Lapid said that a security briefing on Tuesday night included no mention of a related threat.
Other Israeli officials, including the defence minister, Israel Katz, and the ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, suggested the incident was a “terror attack”, with the Israeli foreign ministry briefing its diplomats that the attack was against Israel and its relationship with the UAE.
Danon told Fox News that Israel had “no doubt it was a terror attack from a radical individual”, but said that until now investigators had not established any link to a specific organisation or state.
Donald Trump suggested the co-pilot was “perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job”, while telling reporters at the White House that he and Netanyahu had spoken at length.
Netanyahu also spoke to the president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who agreed to Israel’s involvement in the investigation.
Flydubai said its flights to and from Israel would be suspended while the investigation took place and urged all parties “to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts”.
The UAE announced on Thursday that it would be conducting its own investigation of the incident, which started about two and a half hours after takeoff from Dubai. It said its investigators had begun to look into the attacker’s motive and if he had any links to any “terrorist purpose”.
Passengers said they saw a knife-wielding man – apparently the Omani co-pilot – putting the captain of the plane on the floor, after which the plane began to plummet. The wounded pilot, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, managed to send out an emergency signal and open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and stop the plane’s descent.
A video shared by the prime minister’s office showed one passenger, Yaniv Hayoun, a plumber, speaking to Netanyahu at length about how the events onboard played out.
Hayoun told the prime minister he and other passengers heard screaming and felt the air pressure change as the plane dived before they forced their way into the cockpit and found the attacker at the instrument panel. “I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and dragged him out first,” Hayoun said during the meeting with Netanyahu after the plane had landed safely and the passengers were flown to Israel.
Machchhar was widely praised for his bravery, with Netanyahu and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, hailing him as a hero. India’s ambassador to the UAE met the wounded captain’s family and briefed them on his recovery, the Indian consulate in the UAE said.
Machchhar was being treated in a hospital in Tabuk. “Captain Smit Machchhar is a HERO,” Modi said, in a post on social media. “In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.”
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