Speaking at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday (September 30), Elyakim Italy said his son told him the plane dropped from 30,000 to 15,000 feet in about a minute before landing in Saudi Arabia.

He added that his son said there was a disturbance in the cockpit and saw a pilot emerge with blood on his shirt, before they heard that the flight will land in Saudi Arabia.

The co-pilot of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv is believed to have stabbed the captain in a possible attempted "terror attack" on Wednesday, forcing the plane to divert to Saudi Arabia where it landed safely, three Israeli officials said.

Officials said the cabin crew entered the cockpit and took control of flydubai flight FZ1073 from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, which diverted to Saudi Arabia as it flew over Jordanian airspace. One of the officials identified the attacker as an Omani national.

An Israeli official had earlier told Reuters the plane transmitted emergency signals after the pilots got into a physical altercation with each other.

The aircraft's data appeared to show that it had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before a first emergency signal was sent, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Father of passenger says Dubai-Israel flight plunged 15,000 feet, bloodied pilot aboard

VIDEO SHOWS: PEOPLE AT BEN GURION AIRPORT/ INTERVIEW WITH FATHER OF ONE OF PASSENGERS WHO IS ON FLYDUBAI FLIGHT

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: BEN GURION AIRPORT, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 30, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PEOPLE AT BEN GURION AIRPORT

2. FATHER OF PASSENGER ALMOG, ELYAKIM ITALY, SPEAKING TO HIS SON ON THE PHONE, SAYING (Hebrew): “Almog, do you hear?” / REPORTER ASKING (Hebrew): “Almog, what can you tell us about the flight? How are you?” / AUDIO OF PASSENGER UNCLEAR

3. PEOPLE AT AIRPORT

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) FATHER OF PASSENGER ALMOG, ELYAKIM ITALY, SAYING:

“There are two options. The first option is to get a flight with a crew from Dubai, or a flight from Israel. They don’t know. They got off the plane and received drinks and lunch. It is stressful, especially after everything they saw, when the plane went from 30,000 to 15,000 feet, which is a lot.”

5. ITALY TRYING TO CALL HIS SON

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER OF PASSENGER ALMOG, ELYAKIM ITALY, SAYING:

“On the plane, they heard a noise and there was a problem because the plane is like crashed down, 15,000 feet in one minute. Later, they saw one or three of the Israelis go to the front, to the cockpit. That's when, later they saw one of the flight captain go out with blood on the shirt.”

7. ITALY TRYING TO CALL HIS SON

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER OF PASSENGER ALMOG, ELYAKIM ITALY, SAYING:

“Later, we spoke with them and then we know that they had landed in Saudi Arabia. They get water and something to food (eat), and after it, they go down (off the plane). They don’t know yet, nothing about how they will come back to Israel, maybe on another flight of flydubai, maybe (on a) plane of Israel. We don’t know but we talked with them.”

9. ITALY HUGGING HIS DAUGHTER, WHO HAS JUST LANDED FROM DUBAI ON A DIFFERENT FLIGHT

10. ITALY WITH HIS GRANDSON, WHO ARRIVED ON ANOTHER FLIGHT FROM DUBAI