Lital Hirschl-Shahar has spoken out about the moment she told her four daughters to pray as their flydubai flight plunged toward the earth.
Hirschl-Shahar, 39, was returning from a family vacation in Singapore and Thailand with her girls — ages 14, 11, 7 and 5 — on Wednesday’s flydubai Flt. 1073 bound for Israel when chaos erupted near the front of the cabin. A passenger began screaming that the pilot was under attack and that the cockpit was covered in blood, she told The Post.
“It all happened so fast, and the plane just started dropping down,” Hirschl-Shahar said. “It was so scary and crazy … We all thought we were going to die.”
The mother said she turned to prayer as the aircraft went into a nose dive. “I was talking to God nonstop, believing prayer was the only thing that could save us. I told my daughters to pray, too,” she said.
Co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami had attempted to seize control of the aircraft, stabbing pilot Smit Machchhar multiple times in the process. Machchhar fought off al-Hammami long enough to open the cockpit door, alerting passengers to the emergency unfolding feet away from them.
“We heard a lady in business class shouting. She sounded so terrified, in a way I’ll never forget,” Hirschl-Shahar recalled.
Plumber Yaniv Hayun, seated behind Hirschl-Shahar and her daughters, was among the passengers who immediately rushed forward. He and others restrained al-Hammami, who was allegedly attacking the control panel in an attempt to crash the plane, and provided first aid to the wounded pilot.
During the 12-minute struggle, the aircraft dropped approximately 18,000 feet. Hayun drew on knowledge from the Canadian documentary series “Mayday” to help stabilize the flight. Two off-duty pilots who happened to be onboard assisted in conducting an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, despite damage to the plane’s rudder.
“We needed a miracle, and I couldn’t help but think, ‘Is this how you’re going to die? Is this how your girls are going to die?'” Hirschl-Shahar said.
The family has since returned home to recover from the ordeal. Hirschl-Shahar’s 7-year-old daughter developed a fever from the stress of the event, she said.
The mother has also faced social media comments claiming the attempted hijacking was staged, comments she said undermine the terror that she and the 173 other passengers endured.
“It was just a miracle wrapped in a miracle wrapped in a miracle,” Hirschl-Shahar said.