Flydubai Captain Smit Machchhar said his co-pilot shut the cockpit door after he first opened it during an attack, forcing the wounded captain to reach the internal handle again as the aircraft descended and passengers tried to get inside. “When I opened it again, I saw people waiting to rush inside,” Machchhar recalled.

Machchhar said the co-pilot asked to pray in the cockpit, which he did not initially consider unusual. About four to five minutes later, he was struck repeatedly in the back of the head, his vision blurred and he felt the aircraft enter a sharp descent. People outside tried the cockpit access code, but the co-pilot did not grant entry. Lying on the floor and hearing passengers scream, Machchhar said he gathered “one last fight” to reopen the door.

The UAE attorney general said the co-pilot attacked Machchhar with the cockpit’s emergency crash axe and tried to seize the aircraft in an attempted terrorist attack on Sept. 30. Passengers and crew subdued the suspect, identified in media reports as Hamam al-Hammami, and additional pilots aboard landed the Dubai to Tel Aviv flight safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The suspect was transferred to the UAE, which is leading the investigation.