Israel-bound flight makes emergency landing in Saudi Arabia amid reports of bloody onboard altercation

A commercial flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday amid reports of a bloody onboard altercation.

Cluster2, which operates at several airports across Saudi Arabia, said both the captain and first officer of FlyDubai flight 1073 were injured in the incident and taken to a hospital.

Video from onboard the Boeing 737 appeared to show two people lying on the floor, visibly bloodied as others crowd around them.

The mother of a passenger on the FlyDubai flight told The Associated Press that her daughter heard screaming and somebody, whom she believed was a pilot, asking for help.

Yasmin Abukasis said the plane started to lose control, with one man taking out a knife and attempting to kill the pilot.

“There was a lot of blood around,” she said, according to her daughter’s account.

The Israeli military told NBC News that the country had scrambled at least two jets in response to the incident. They said the military had not yet ruled out the possibility that it was terrorism-related.

A spokesperson for FlyDubai told NBC News that Flight FZ 1073 had “experienced an incident while en route” from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport.

The aircraft landed safely at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport, commonly known as Tabuk Airport, the spokesperson said.

The airline was working to secure a replacement aircraft, and investigators were looking into what happened onboard.

The FlyDubai flight initially triggered a 7700 “general emergency” signal, aviation tracking site FlightRadar24 reported. It then switched to a 7500 code, suggesting “unlawful interference,” before switching back to a 7700, the tracking site said.

It said “extreme fluctuations” were observed in the altitude data transmitted from the flight, which appeared to drop by 14,125 feet in just 29 seconds, according to FlightRadar24.

Israeli media, including The Times of Israel and Ynet cited unidentified security officials as saying that the alert had apparently been triggered over an altercation between the plane’s two pilots. NBC News was not immediately able to confirm those details.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee expressed relief in a post on X on Wednesday that the incident didn’t turn out to be “more serious.”

“This had everyone in the Middle East (esp Israel) on FULL ALERT this morning,” he said. “Having pilots inflight detouring to ‘fist city’ not your ordinary experience.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held consultations on the matter and had monitored developments.

“The situation is under control, and all measures are currently being taken to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel safely,” his office said Wednesday.

Liam Woods and The Associated Press contributed.