A FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates bound for Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia this morning in what Israeli security officials said may have been a terrorist incident following a violent altercation in which the plane’s captain, reportedly assisted by a passenger, wrested control from his co-pilot after the plane was thrown into a brief, rapid descent.

Images emerged in the hours following the incident of several passengers in bloody clothing. “We just heard screams, and then the cockpit door opened and we saw a huge amount of blood,” one passenger told Israeli media after landing in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport, near the Gulf state’s border with Jordan. Video also showed passengers tending to the pilot covered in blood on the floor, while the co-pilot appears tied up and possibly unconscious.

Israel’s i24News reported that the co-pilot who was subdued and restrained was of Omani origin, and that two additional pilots on board the aircraft, but not working the flight, were nationals of South Africa and New Zealand.  

Passengers upon landing in Saudi Arabia broke out into celebratory song, according to video obtained by Israeli media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cleared his schedule for the day, and held briefings with security officials on the incident.

The Emirati airline, which runs multiple daily flights between Israel and the UAE, was one of the few that had near-continuous service to Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing wars with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran prompted most major carriers to temporarily halt or permanently suspend flights to Israel. It is, like Emirates, wholly owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai.