"New 9/11 prevented" PHOTO/VIDEO

N12 also reported that a team of other pilots who were among the passengers intervened and took control of the aircraft.

“One pilot stabbed another and attempted to repeat ‘9/11,’ that is, to hijack the plane or crash it. The aircraft began to descend, but a team of pilots who were on board took control of the aircraft. A dramatic catastrophe was prevented,” N12 reported, adding that, according to preliminary indications, the pilot who caused the incident was of Omani origin.

The Israeli outlet Walla reported, citing eyewitness accounts from the aircraft, that the Omani co-pilot stabbed the captain with a knife.

The co-pilot then allegedly attempted to bring down the aircraft, which was carrying more than 150 passengers, most of them Israelis.

“It was probably an attack. Some of the passengers helped the other pilot regain control until they landed the plane. It was the trauma of a lifetime. We felt as if we were parachuting, and then suddenly we plunged,” one passenger said.

Following the incident, a flydubai aircraft made an emergency landing in Tabuk, western Saudi Arabia, this morning.

“An hijacking signal was transmitted from the aircraft following a violent altercation between the captain and the co-pilot, during which one of them was stabbed with a knife. At this stage, the possibility of sending a military or civilian aircraft to Saudi Arabia to repatriate the Israelis is being considered,” Walla reported.

The outlet added that, following the altercation between the pilots, the aircraft descended approximately 4,500 meters in just over one minute.

A senior military source said it appeared that the pilot of Omani origin had attempted to commit suicide using the aircraft, but that it was unclear whether he had done so for “psychological or nationalist reasons.”

According to unconfirmed reports, the pilot who was stabbed in mid-air died during the flight, Walla reported.

The Israeli outlet N12 reported that the airline officially stated that one of the pilots lost consciousness during the altercation.

Hijacking signal transmitted

The aircraft operating flight FZ1073 initially transmitted squawk code 7700, indicating a general emergency, followed by code 7500, which indicates a hijacking or other unlawful interference with the flight. However, it later emerged that it was not a hijacking but an altercation between the pilots on board, Israeli officials and defense sources said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

According to the Israeli outlet Maariv, it turned out that the aircraft’s pilot and co-pilot were arguing and accidentally pressed the buttons that transmit the emergency and suspected hijacking signals.

Earlier today, media reports said that a fight had broken out between the pilots during the flight, and that the pilot was Russian while the co-pilot was Ukrainian.

However, the Russian Consulate General in Dubai has since denied the information that one of the pilots was a Russian citizen.