A mother who was aboard a Flydubai flight during an attempted hijacking has described the moment she feared for the lives of her four daughters, telling them their fate was “in God’s hands”.
Lital Hirschl-Shahar, 39, was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the aircraft plunged 14,000ft in 29 seconds after the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with a cockpit axe.
She said the plane rocked violently as passengers rushed towards the cockpit, while children cried out for their fathers to return.
“We saw death coming. We couldn’t breathe,” Ms Hirschl-Shahar said. “My oldest of four daughters looked at me and said, ‘Mum, you are all grey’. I felt like I had no blood in my face and head anymore.”
She said her immediate concern was not for her own safety, but for the children sitting with her in the tenth row.
“But as a mum, I didn’t care about myself. I was just worried about my four souls that were with me there,” she said. “What can I do? Who should I hold first? Whose hand to hold first? Who should I hug? How do I do that?”
Ms Hirschl-Shahar was sitting beside her five-year-old daughter and said she tried to remain calm as screams spread through the cabin.
“I didn’t want them to be panicked, I just told them we are in God’s hands. And especially now, we just need to pray,” she said.
Passengers intervened as flight plunged
Captain Smit Machchhar said the co-pilot, identified as 29-year-old Omani national Hamam Al Hammami, had asked to pray. The captain said he turned away out of respect, believing his colleague was praying rather than preparing to attack him.
After several minutes, Mr Machchhar said he was struck repeatedly on the back of the head. A passenger who was walking to the lavatory reportedly saw the attack and ran through the aircraft shouting: “He’s stabbing the pilot.”
Four Israeli men then went towards the cockpit as their children shouted: “Father, no! Come back.” They wrestled with the axe-wielding co-pilot and eventually restrained him.
Mr Machchhar said he managed to force open the cockpit door despite his injuries, allowing passengers to reach him.
“I had that one last fight left in me,” he said. “That’s when I pushed against everything. I gave everything that I had and just went for the door and opened the door and thankfully people were waiting.”
Distressing footage from inside the aircraft showed the wounded captain lying on the floor as passengers treated him, while Mr Al Hammami appeared to be lying nearby.
The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, issued an emergency signal before turning around over the border between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
During the flight, a transponder code signalling unlawful interference or a hijacking was briefly issued. The incident was later described by investigators in the United Arab Emirates as a planned “terrorist act”, while Israel’s defence minister called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack”.
Flydubai chief executive Ghaith al Ghaith said the aircraft had diverted after a “safety incident” inside the cockpit.
Mr Machchhar’s actions have been praised after he prevented what was believed to be a suicide mission. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited the Indian national to Israel as a guest of honour in May, alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Netanyahu told him: “You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel and you are a hero of the entire world.”
Ms Hirschl-Shahar said the Israeli passengers had reacted quickly because of their experience of security threats.
“We understood we have a terrorist on our flight, and so they fought, caught and handcuffed him,” she said. “And luckily the flight had so many miracles, like having the pilots on board and the pilot’s last push in opening the door. Otherwise, we would have crashed.”
She said the family had been worried about landing in Saudi Arabia, given the lack of diplomatic relations between the country and Israel. However, she said passengers were welcomed after the emergency landing.
“We landed in Saudi Arabia. But I have to say that they were amazing to us. We were scared but they welcomed us,” she said.
Ms Hirschl-Shahar said her family had suffered “big trauma” and continued to feel the effects of the incident. Her message, she added, was: “Stop chasing the Jews.”
