(LONDON) — A man who was among a group of passengers who subdued an attacker on a flight to Tel Aviv on Wednesday was welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he returned to Israel later in the evening.
The prime minister posted a video of meeting the passenger named Yaniv Hayun, who still had blood on his shirt from the encounter.
Yaniv and a group of other passengers aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073 were able to get into the cockpit after an unidentified pilot stabbed the co-pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar and took control of the plane, Israeli officials said.
The suspect allegedly plummeted the plane in an attempt to crash it and kill everyone aboard, Israeli investigators said.
“And then there was a very sharp nosedive down, something that threw me to where the flight attendants stand in front of the cockpit, I flew sideways,” Yaniv said.
Yaniv said he placed the attacker in a chokehold and pulled him out. And then he quickly went for the plane’s controls and briefly flew the plane.
“And the plane started to level out a bit more, and then the (third) pilot told me he’s taking control from here,” he said.
The third pilot flew it to Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed and the passengers disembarked. Capt. Machchhar was being treated for his injuries and the suspect is in custody, officials said.
“I imagine if we entered the sky of the country it wouldn’t have been good,” Yaniv told the prime minister during their meeting.
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