Israeli passengers recount emergency landing in hostile country

Pakistan, along with Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran, is a country where Israelis aren’t allowed entry even for a connecting flight without exiting the airport.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A FlyDubai flight to Sri Lanka with Israeli passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing on Wednesday in Pakistan, a country Israelis are forbidden from entering or staying.

According to Israel Hayom, the cause of the two-hour landing in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan, was an apparent medical emergency.

Pakistan, along with Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran, is a country where Israelis aren’t allowed entry even for a connecting flight without first exiting the airport.

An official statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry said, “During the night, a FlyDubai flight en route to Sri Lanka made an emergency landing in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan. Two Israeli citizens were on board at the time.”

The two Israeli passengers were Rotem Yehud and Itai Roshtein, who recently completed reserve duty and were traveling to vacation in Sri Lanka.

They told Israel Hayom, “A passenger wasn’t feeling well during the flight. Pakistan was the closest place to land. It took some time to get approval, so we circled above the Pakistani airport for an hour and a half. Then we spent another two hours on the ground in Pakistan while they refueled our plane before we continued to Sri Lanka.”

“As long as we were on the plane, there was no reason to be afraid. They weren’t hostile towards us. The medical teams were the first to board the plane. We don’t know if the Pakistanis knew we were Israelis. We sat quietly and didn’t feel anything different,” They added.

“We talked among ourselves and immediately stood up to speak with other Israelis. The families with young children were very scared; they didn’t understand what was happening. There were about six young people like us and around 15 others in family groups. There was a large family of six, another family of five, and a few more in similar arrangements,” they said.

“They kept asking what was happening. No one knew for sure what was going on or when we’d leave. The pilot kept talking, saying he didn’t know if or when we’d be leaving Pakistan, but eventually we took off after about two hours,” they concluded.