The FlyDubai pilot who allegedly attacked his captain on a flight to Israel earlier this week used a crash ax and tried to seize control of the aircraft in an attempted terrorist act, a United Arab Emirates official said.

The pilot, who has been identified as an Omani national, used a crash ax to attack the flight’s captain and then tried to take control of the plane, UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said in a statement reported by Emirates News Agency. A crash ax is a tool to break windows during an emergency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke by phone on Saturday with Captain Smit Machchhar, who described taking blows “one after the other” during the call.

The Israeli ambassador to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, previously told MS NOW that the pilot had been employed by FlyDubai for a year.

The plane was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the incident happened. As it closed in on the Israeli border, the aircraft plunged more than 14,000 feet in 30 seconds, according to FlightRadar data.

Most of the passengers on the flight were Israeli, according to Netanyahu. Four were Americans. Machchhar, an Indian national, despite having been bludgeoned, described fighting back and opened the cockpit door so that others could intervene and subdue the alleged attacker.

Netanyahu called him a “hero.”

An investigation into the incident is underway. FlyDubai, an Emirati government-owned airline that has operated commercial flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv since 2020, has since temporarily suspended service to the Israeli city.

Inzamam Rashid contributed reporting.

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