Passengers aboard the flydubai aircraft at the center of a suspected terrorist attack described scenes of chaos and bloodshed as they praised the heroes who helped prevent a tragedy on Wednesday.
Miriam Ohayon, whose brother was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, said panic erupted when Flight 1073 began losing altitude rapidly while en route to Tel Aviv.
After Captain Smit Machchhar opened the cockpit doors, Ohayon said passengers were confronted by the sight of the bloodied pilot and began screaming in terror.
“We heard screams on the plane, and when they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood,” she told Israel’s Channel 24.
Fellow passenger Mika Bauman said the aircraft’s sudden drop of roughly 18,000 feet was a million times more frightening than plunging on a roller coaster.
“I was just sure I was going to die,” she told CNN. “You’re just sitting there and accepting your fate.”
Bauman said passengers later thanked the people who subdued the rogue co-pilot accused of attacking Machchhar. The rescuers were easy to identify, she added, because they were covered in blood.
CONTINUE READING: Outrage Over Plans to Turn UK’s Oldest Sea Fort Into Migrant Centre
Itzhak Liber, one of the passengers who helped restrain the attacker, said his clothes were soaked in blood. Images from the cockpit and of the injured pilot underscored the brutality of the incident.
“I will have to change my clothes [because] they are filled with blood,” Liber said in a social media post from inside the aircraft, confirming that the terror suspect had been apprehended.
Zvika Manes, an Israeli banking executive, gave a similar account after he and other passengers responded to the injured pilot’s desperate pleas for help.
“I’m covered in blood,” Manes told Calcalist. “It was crazy!”
Lital Shahar, who was traveling with her four daughters, said her family was terrified as panic spread through the aircraft.
Even amid the fear, Shahar said she was reassured by the bravery of fellow passengers. She also credited the presence of two off-duty pilots who helped land the plane.
“There were two miracles — that Israelis were on the plane who heroically went into the cockpit… and that there were off-duty pilots onboard who could land the plane in Saudi Arabia,” Shahar told the Times of Israel.
