NewzJERUSALEM (AP) — Investigators worked Thursday to determine why an Omani pilot stabbed the captain of a flight to Israel, causing the plane to plummet dangerously before others on board landed it in Saudi Arabia.Passengers on the FlyDubai plane — which was carrying 174 people, mostly Israelis, from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv — have described how the bloodied Indian captain managed to open the cockpit door to let them in before they grappled with the copilot and stabilized a descent so sharp that the plane’s rudder was torn away.“We felt helpless, suspended in midair, and I didn’t know who to turn to. But it was all instinct to survive,” Asaf Rajuan, who was among those who intervened, said in a statement shared by Israel’s presidency.A regional official briefed on the investigation said the suspect, an Omani citizen, was under arrest and confirmed that Saudi authorities were working with countries, including Israel, to try to determine a motive. He said the UAE, the United States and Oman also were involved.“All possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into.
Nothing is ruled out for now,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing probe.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker underwent Islamist indoctrination but did not give details. Asked who helped radicalize the man, the prime minister said he did not know and that Israel was cooperating with the UAE's investigation.“We’ll get to the bottom of things,” he told Fox News channel’s “Fox and Friends.”Video shot inside the plane by Shota Musayev, a dentist who treated the captain, shows the copilot on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back. The copilot’s name has not been released, and his condition was not known.Capt.
Smit Machchhar, widely praised as one of the heroes of the flight, was reportedly in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said overnight.Israeli investigators will join the interrogation of the copilotIsraeli intelligence and security officials were in Saudi Arabia to help investigate the copilot, according to another regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Israel has requested that the copilot be sent to Israel for the investigation, though it is unclear if that request will …
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