Flydubai drama: 'UAE shared crew details with Israel ahead of flight'

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shared with Israel a list of passengers and crew ahead of the Flydubai flight on which a pilot attempted to seize control of the Israel-bound aircraft and crash it, regional officials said Sunday, raising new questions over how the attacker evaded detection.

With the investigation underway, preliminary details about the incident have highlighted several major security lapses. Officials already have said the Omani co-pilot had been barred from flying by his own country because of concerns about his extremist views. It also remains unclear how a citizen of Oman, an Arab country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel, was allowed to fly a planeload of Israelis to Tel Aviv.

The UAE, which is leading the investigation, said the co-pilot attacked the flight's captain with the cockpit's crash ax and tried to take control of the plummeting plane in a "terrorist attack" Wednesday. His actions nearly crashed the flight with 182 people on board before the Indian captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and others to rush in and subdued the attacker.


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'Israel Did not Flag concerns'

The regional officials said Emirati authorities had shared information about the passengers and crew, including their nationalities. Israel hadn't raised red flags on any passenger or member of the crew, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters about the probe.

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The Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, said the Transportation Ministry is responsible for vetting passenger lists from foreign flights. Transportation Minister Miri Regev told Israel's public broadcaster Kan that the security agencies are responsible for flight security and that her ministry wasn't given a list of passengers or any warnings.