A female IDF soldier was on a plane that was forced to conduct an emergency landing in Iran last Thursday, the military revealed on Wednesday.
The pilot of the flight had fallen unconscious, leading to the plane making the emergency landing. The plane continued on its way without the soldier facing any difficulties.
She is a lone soldier who was on her way back to Israel after visiting family.
The incident took place as the Israeli government met to vote on the maritime border demarcation agreement with Lebanon.
Iranian media had reported on Thursday that a Fly Dubai flight flying from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to Dubai had made an emergency landing at Shiraz Airport after the pilot lost consciousness. The passengers were transferred off the plane and into the terminal and, after new pilots were found, continued on their way to Dubai after about 11 hours.
According to IRNA, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization stated that this was a “serious incident” and that Iran and the UAE were conducting a joint investigation into it.
The incident has some Israelis drawing parallels to the opening scenes of the hit series Tehran which begins with the Mossad using an emergency landing to get an agent into the country. In the show, there are two other Israelis on the plane who end up getting interrogated by Iranian forces but manage to get let go and depart the country safely.