US President Donald Trump said an Israeli plumber helped save a Flydubai plane after an attack in the cockpit, according to infohub.kz. He stressed, however, that he was recounting a story he heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others and did not know how accurate it was.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, the US president said he had discussed the incident with Netanyahu.
"I spoke with Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] about this incident. It appears the co-pilot was possibly a terrorist or possibly crazy, and he stabbed the pilot with a knife," Trump said.
According to his account, the wounded captain managed to open the cockpit door, after which a passenger who worked as a plumber came to help. The man pulled the co-pilot out of his seat, and other passengers helped subdue him.
Trump claims the plumber then intervened in flying the plane, which was descending sharply.
"An Israeli plumber who had never flown a plane before pulled this guy out of the seat and threw him back, grabbed the controls, pulled them up — and leveled the plane right before it crashed," the US president said.
According to Trump, the passenger explained his actions by saying he had watched a TV program about plane crashes called Air Disasters. Later, pilots on board took over the controls.
Trump separately stressed that he had not verified the accuracy of the information he received.
"This is a story I heard. I don't know if it's true, but it's a story I got from Bibi and a few other people," the US president said.
The incident occurred on September 30 on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The plane made an emergency landing in the Saudi city of Tabuk.
According to Reuters, citing Israeli officials, passengers and crew members subdued the co-pilot. The landing was performed by another pair of Flydubai pilots who were on board. Flydubai urged against premature speculation.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote about several versions of what happened on board. Media reports gave conflicting information about the pilots' citizenship: initially it was reported that the co-pilot was Ukrainian and the captain was Russian. This information was later refuted, and the co-pilot was named as an Omani citizen. The Russian Consulate General said there were no Russians on board.
The motives for the incident have not yet been established. Among the versions discussed are personal psychological problems and an attempted terrorist attack.