FlyDubai flight to Israel diverted to Saudi Arabia after incident in cockpit

A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, briefly raising concerns about a possible hijacking and prompting Israel to scramble warplanes.

Israeli media, citing security officials, said the incident stemmed from a feud between the plane’s two pilots, and everyone on board was safe. The plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the kingdom.

The FlyDubai plane transmitted an emergency alert shortly after take-off, according to publicly available flight tracking information.

A regional official briefed on the incident said a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots. It wasn’t immediately clear what had caused the fight, the official said.