Flight from Seychelles to Israel forced to land in Jeddah after suffering technical malfunction. The passengers will spend the night in Saudi Arabia.

A plane carrying 128 Israelis, which was flying from the island nation of Seychelles to Israel, was forced to land at the airport in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Monday evening, due to a technical malfunction of the plane.

The landing was made about four hours after takeoff and about an hour and a half before the planned landing in Israel. All passengers are safe and will remain in Jeddah overnight.

The Air Seychelles airline said in a statement that “flight HM22 that departed from Seychelles to Tel Aviv had to land in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia due to a technical problem with the plane. The plane landed successfully, all passengers are safe, and a few minutes ago a replacement plane took off to pick up the passengers and continue their flight to Israel safely. Also, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was updated.”

The Foreign Ministry said that the issue is being handled by the Department for Israelis Abroad in cooperation with relevant parties in Israel.

Later, the Foreign Ministry said that the Director General of the Ministry held a situation assessment with all Ministry officials relevant to the incident and that the Foreign Ministry is in contact with the passengers of the plane and with the airline in order to find a quick and safe solution to the incident.

Source: Arutz 7