The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said one of the pilots of the plane flying from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed his co-pilot and appeared to try to crash the aircraft, according to The Guardian.

The plane descended 17,000 feet in two minutes before it was stabilised, the newspaper said. Captain Machchhar, seriously injured in the stabbing, fought back, opened the cockpit door and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. Netanyahu said the captain saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals, and called him “a true hero,” according to TASS.