"He Attacked Us, We Overpowered Him": Video Emerges From flydubai Plane

Passengers are seen praising the heroics of an injured Indian pilot in a video that has emerged from the flydubai plane that encountered a violent cockpit struggle and a brief hijack scare earlier today.

Heading to Tel Aviv from Dubai, flight FZ 1073 sent a distress signal and changed course after Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian pilot, was stabbed by his co-pilot. Blood stains are seen in the cabin and on his face, with passengers guarding the injured pilot.

"You saved the plane," one of the travellers is heard saying in the minute-long footage. Another man seen with a head injury says in Hebrew, "He attacked us on this plane. He tried to murder the pilot. We overpowered him."

Read : Pilot Tried To Take Control Of flydubai Plane, Terror Attack Not Ruled Out

"We are standing here. No one passes the pilot's door," comes an assurance from another. One of the passengers is even seen pointing to the accused pilot as the "one who stabbed" the other pilot.

Some off-duty pilots who were among the 180 passengers on board eventually stepped in and landed the plane in Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.

Flydubai later said in a statement that the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight "experienced an incident while en route" and that all passengers were safe and accounted for.

While videos pointed to a violent confrontation between two pilots in the cockpit, Israeli authorities have not ruled out a terror angle.

Explaining what occurred during the flight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a pilot tried to sabotage the plane's systems when a passenger and a crew member managed to break into the cockpit and "neutralised" the pilot.

The suspect has been arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, he added in his video statement.

Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, claimed a "terrorist" wanted to crash the aircraft and kill the Israelis on board.

Read : 'Screams, Blood, Then Plane Dived': Eyewitnesses On flydubai Flight Horror

During the confrontation, the plane reportedly dropped about 17,400 feet in two minutes. The plane transmitted the international emergency code 7700, Israeli media cited flight-tracking data as showing, referring to the globally recognised code for hijacking.

The Israeli military is believed to have scrambled fighter jets over possible hijacking fears, which was later ruled out.

The distress code was later changed to 7500, which is recognised for unlawful interference, according to flight tracker Flightradar24, which published its timeline of the flight since it took off.

Netanyahu's office said that the situation is now under control and that measures are being taken to ensure the return of Israeli passengers to Israel.