When the first reports about a diverted flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv came through on Wednesday, it appeared to have been caused by a tussle between two pilots.

Early claims even suggested one was Russian and the other Ukrainian.

But, in the age of social media, the true chaos aboard the FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 quickly came to light. Footage and images sent from the plane by blood-covered passengers showed them overpowering the co-pilot, who it later emerged was an Omani national.

The plane, a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, was carrying over 170 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it plunged more than 17,000ft in two minutes as the fight broke out. An emergency alert was sent out and the plane changed course towards Jordan, eventually landing in Saudi Arabia.

Aviation experts told the BBC that the rapid descent led to damage pictured on the plane’s rudder adding that the incident could easily have led to the plane breaking up in mid-air.

Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was identified as the victim of the attack, while his arrested co-pilot was identified as Hamam al-Hammami on Saturday by sources cited in CNN.

The motive for the incident is still being determined but Netanyahu’s administration suggested early on that it was a suspected terror attack.

‘Blood everywhere’

A six-year-old on her way to the toilet accompanied by her mother, was the first to raise the alarm when the pair heard shouting coming from the cockpit, prompting cabin crew to rush to the scene. What they saw was a blood-spattered scene.

“There was blood all over the cockpit and very, very sharp fighting moves,” Nina Manes’ mother, Tali Manes told Israel’s Channel 12.

“I screamed, ‘He’s stabbing the pilot, he’s stabbing the pilot, come help!’ People looked at me and didn’t understand.”

Her husband Tzvika Manes said: “The shrieks of my daughters when the plane nose-dived [are still with me]. They said, ‘Dad we don’t want to die.’ [Their cries] were the triggers that caused me to run inside the cockpit.”

One passenger recorded the ordeal on his phone and later shared the footage to social media. With blood dripping down his face, he declared that the passengers had “subdued the terrorists”. “Whoever is hearing me, we need help,” he added.

On Saturday, UAE prosecutors said Cpt Machchhar had been attacked by a “crash axe”, a tool kept in the cockpit in case of emergencies, bypassing stringent security protocols.

Yaniv Hayun, a 50-year-old owner of a sewage plumbing company, was travelling with his wife and two daughters when the incident took place.

In his blood-spattered t-shirt, he was hailed as a hero by Netanyahu who personally thanked him for helping to subdue the attacker and to prevent the plane from crashing.

Along with Tzvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan, he broke into the cockpit to stop the attacker. By mimicking gestures he says he’d see on television, Hayun “grabbed the controls and started pulling back the handles”. He said he’d learned the techniques from watching Air Crash Investigation.

He said it took 20 to 25 minutes to fully subdue and bind the pilot and they used cords from headphones linked to the plane’s entertainment system.

Hayun was helped by a dentist, Dr Shota Musayev, who administered “life-saving medical treatment” to Cpt Machchhar, including treating him for severe wounds to his head and cuts to his fingers. He helped to successfully stop the bleeding and to stabilise his blood pressure before emergency surgery.

All five are expected to receive Israel’s Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism, president Isaac Herzog said on Thursday.

Both pilots have been transferred to the UAE for further investigations and for medical treatment.

‘Suicidal and indoctrinated’

Netanyahu told Fox News that the attacker was “suicidal” and called out to the crew: “kill me, kill me!” after he was subdued.

“It’s clear he was suicidal, that’s not a question,” he added. The Israeli leader said that he had undergone a “Islamist radical indoctrination” and promised to reveal whether he had connections to Iran in the coming days.

The prime minister said those onboard managed to “prevent a 9/11 disaster, because that’s what it looks like was happening”, claiming that the intent may have been to crash the plane.

A regional official familiar with the FlyDubai investigation told the Associated Press that investigators in Saudi Arabia were working with authorities from the UAE, US, Oman and Israel, and that “all possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into”.

“Nothing is ruled out for now”, the official said.

Al-Hammami was banned from flying last year over concerns that he had radical ideological views, according to Saudi state media.

Two Israeli security officials said that the co-pilot was probably acting alone, according to their initial assessments.

He was arrested by Saudi security forces after the plane landed in Tabuk, northwest Saudi Arabia, and was being questioned by investigators.

On Saturday, the UAE prosecutor general said that al-Hammami had attempted to carry out a “terrorist” attack, according to the country’s state news agency WAM.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances of the incident, the motives and any related connections, as well as to examine physical and digital evidence, he added.

Netanyahu said: “It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane … The Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that are found in his background, I think that’s a pretty good clue.”

Warnings and questions over security

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Wednesday that politicians had been warned in a national security briefing the night before that Israel’s enemies could attack in the run up to the country’s elections due to take place on 27 October.

A ban on pilots from states without formal relations to Israel was not enforced appropriately, according to a report cited by the Times of Israel.

Under the law, pilots from nations including Oman, which does not have formal ties with Israel, were banned from flying but airlines and security agencies did not enforce the rule.

Furthermore, Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, had raised concerns about flights from the UAE for months before the incident.

Shin Bet director David Zini had reportedly clashed with Israeli airlines over restrictions on flights to the UAE, reasoning that security measures at Emirati airports were insufficient, according to Israel’s N12 News.

Israeli authorities were concerned with possible missile attacks or attacks at an airport, the outlet reported on Thursday. A scenario like Wednesday’s hijacking attempt was “not raised in any discussion”, they said.