A family sitting in the front row of the flydubai flight FZ1073 witnessed chilling scenes as the captain attempted to fend off a knife attack when the plane was bound for Tel Aviv.
Tzvika Manes, an investment banker, his wife and their three daughters, aged 11, seven and six, were on a connecting flight as part of their Tokyo to Tel Aviv route when the attack took place.
Mr Manes’s wife heard shouts from the cockpit and sounded the alarm.
“My wife, actually, she is the one that first saw and understood that something wrong was happening,” Mr Manes told The National from Tel Aviv.
“She heard fighting, noises, shouting from the cockpit. Then the captain managed to open the door. She saw them struggling, saw the stabbing … she started shouting, she shouted something about stabbing, murder, killing. The attack happened, I think, one hour before we were to arrive in Tel Aviv.”
Saving lives
He said even as the captain and co-pilot were wedged in the cockpit doorway, an Israeli passenger and a reserve pilot stopped the knife attack and pulled the two men out of the cockpit.
By then the plane had begun to plummet and the standby pilot and passenger rushed in to stabilise the aircraft. People were tossed around due to a rapid loss of air pressure as the Boeing 737 plunged 14,000ft in only 30 seconds.
“The aircraft started to descend dramatically and people were falling, children were falling ,” Mr Manes said. “It was very, very scary.”
Mr Manes, along with the crew, helped tie up the co-pilot, who reportedly stabbed the pilot, with headphone cables while the captain was administered first aid.
“We tied him up with the headphones, we used what we had,” he said. “One of the guys that was helping keep control of the cockpit took care [to ensure] that the door of the cockpit was not disturbed. We tried to create a safety zone to neutralise the terrorist.”
Damage to cockpit console
He said his wife saw the captain being stabbed and the co-pilot attempting to destroy the controls in the cockpit.
Mr Manes said they first heard it described as a terrorist attack by the flydubai crew.
“My wife saw the knife, [saw] him stabbing the captain, trying to damage the cockpit systems … so that we could not manage to stabilise the aircraft,” he said.
“It was a terror attack. All the attendants, all the crew told us that this is a terror attack and that they are shocked.”
Mr Manes said the passengers and crew were quick to care of the Indian captain.
“He was losing a lot of blood. But there was a doctor and the crew succeeded in stopping the wounds, the bleeding, tightened around the wounds with blankets and other equipment they found. They gave him oxygen. They were speaking with him for him to stay in focus. He is definitely, definitely a hero.”
‘Running to the fire’
The traumatic ordeal continued as a small group of passengers and a pilot successfully diverted the plane and landed it in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Mr Manes said a collective effort turned a potentially deadly situation on its head.
“There was blood everywhere, I was covered with blood,” he said.
“It’s not only me, it's the others as well. When your family and children are in danger, you are running to the fire to try to save them. So it’s the courage of the passengers, the Indian pilot, the reserve pilot – a lot of people were brave and, thank God, this is the outcome that we landed in Saudi Arabia. They kept us alive.”
Mr Manes and his family are now back in Tel Aviv and trying to process the harrowing events. “It is definitely the worst nightmare I've ever had and for all the people that were there,” he said.
“For the children, it was very traumatic. My wife is trying to adjust. It will take time. We are very emotional and we need to take care of the kids.”
The Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, is being treated in hospital and has been hailed as a hero for his role in saving 174 passengers on the Boeing 737.
UAE authorities have ordered an investigation into whether the flydubai incident was linked to terrorist activity.
