An Air Seychelles plane took off from Dubai to Jeddah on Tuesday morning to pick up some 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, were expected to take off for Israel again later in the morning and land in Israel around noon.
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.”
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