The Air Seychelles flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia landed in Israel on Tuesday afternoon, carrying 128 Israeli passengers who were stranded when their flight on Monday was forced to land in Saudi Arabia.
The flight made the landing due to a technical issue and was able to land safely in Jeddah.
The situation was closely monitored by the Department for Israelis Abroad at the Foreign Ministry who was updated on Tuesday regarding the alternate plane.
The 128 passengers, who had spent the night at an airport hotel, took off for Israel in the late morning aboard an alternate plane that had flown in from Dubai.
Saudi Arabia is restricted to Israelis
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have normalization, and Israelis are officially restricted from traveling to Saudi Arabia with some exceptions. Earlier this year, the two nations were working on an agreement to allow direct flights for Mecca, but the deal did not go through.
Flight board at Jeddah Airport. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)“When they announced on the flight that we were landing in Saudi Arabia, it was really scary,” said passenger Sharon Licht-Patren to Kan. “It wasn’t clear what would happen. Every now and then, the captain updated us that they were in contact with the Foreign Ministry and the authorities and that there still wasn’t approval to get off the plane.”
Licht Patren went on to tell Kan that they had been stuck on the plane for three hours after it landed without electricity or functioning toilets.
“The moment it was decided that we were staying here, they received us very nicely.”
Sharon Licht-Patren
However, once they got off the plane, they were treated well.
“The moment it was decided that we were staying here, they received us very nicely,” she said. “Everyone smiled and went out of their way to help, accompanying us to the hotel and arranging for rooms for everyone.”
“I greatly appreciate the warm treatment of the Saudi authorities toward the Israeli passengers whose plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Jeddah,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I’m pleased that everyone is returning home. I greatly appreciate the good neighborliness.”
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