UAE calls flydubai cockpit attack a planned terrorist act
UAE prosecutors say the co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash axe and tried to seize the plane before it landed in Saudi Arabia
Published
The United Arab Emirates says the flydubai incident this week was a planned terrorist operation, not a mechanical fault or a simple cockpit dispute.
Federal prosecutor Hamad Al Shamsi said the co-pilot attacked the captain in the cockpit with a crash axe and then tried to take control of the aircraft, according to Bloomberg. The captain, Smit Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door, and a small group of passengers and a reserve pilot overpowered the co-pilot before the plane landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, with 172 people on board, The National reported.
Media reports have named the co-pilot as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, who had reportedly been barred from flying in Oman over concerns about extremist views, The National said. Reports that he had been removed from his job with Oman's national airline have not been independently confirmed by Omani authorities, the Daily Independent reported. He remains in UAE custody. The attorney general said investigations are continuing to establish the full circumstances and motive, and no motive has been confirmed, The National reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had undergone what he called Islamist radical indoctrination and had tried to crash the plane, a characterisation UAE investigators have not confirmed, The New Arab reported.
The incident followed a mid-air altercation between pilots that diverted one Dubai-Tel Aviv flydubai flight to Saudi Arabia and sent a second back to Dubai. Israeli minister Katz called the episode a jihadist terror attempt. The UAE's account moves the story from the earlier Saudi description of a cockpit assault to a security threat aimed at Gulf aviation, arriving days after a second flydubai Dubai-Tel Aviv flight diverted and amid repeated Emirati statements about shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz. Calling it terrorism raises the chance of tighter security checks or route curbs on Gulf-Israel flights, adding to disruption already seen from Iran's flight cancellations and the UAE's suspension of Iranian carriers. It also lands alongside Netanyahu's visit to the UAE and reported pressure on Abu Dhabi over Yemen, keeping regional security risk elevated even as commercial and investment ties between the countries keep expanding.