The co-pilot of the Flydubai plane travelling to Israel attacked the pilot with a crash axe in an attempt to take control of the aircraft, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general has said.

The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv carrying more than 170 people plunged some 17,000ft (5,200m) two and a half hours into its journey, before passengers managed to overpower the attacker and take control of the plane.

Capt Smit Machchhar said he was lying on the floor injured when he realised the plane was sinking and he had to act, explaining: "I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside", which allowed the passengers in.

Two reserve pilots then landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

A crash axe is usually kept ​in the cockpit in case of emergencies.

The UAE attorney general told state media that investigations were ongoing to determine the full circumstances and motives of the incident.

The co-pilot who launched the attack was an Omani national, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday that, after being subdued, the attacker called out to the crew, "Kill me, kill me!"

He added: "So, it's clear that he was suicidal… It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane."

He also said the attacker "underwent Islamist radical indoctrination".

The UAE has begun investigating whether the "incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose", according to the country's state news agency.

Machchhar, who was stabbed in the attack, was taken to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he is reported to be in a stable condition.

The pilot, from India, was in "good health and recovering well", the Indian embassy in the UAE said on Thursday.

"I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again," Machchhar said.

About two and half hours after the plane took off from Dubai International Airport it begun to plunge sharply.

The plane signalled a "general emergency" code, squawk 7700, before switching to squawk 7500, a code reporting "unlawful interference", or hijacking.

In an interview with the BBC, one passenger described the moment he realised that something was wrong.

Almog Itali said: "Suddenly the aeroplane started to, like a rollercoaster, to drop down [with] a massive G-force. It was falling down for 20 or 30 seconds, rapidly, and then balanced, and then started once again to fall down."

People then began to rush to the cockpit, he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday that the alarm was raised onboard by an Israeli woman, Tali Manes, who heard a commotion coming from the cockpit.

Her husband, Zvika, along with three other men – Yaniv Hayun, Dr Shota Musayev and Asaf Rajuan – entered the cockpit after Capt Machchhar managed to open the door despite his injuries.

Hayun said, in a video released by the prime minister's office, that the attacker was "trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane".

Hayun then described putting the attacker in a chokehold and pulling him outside the cockpit before other passengers helped to pin him down.

He added that he "pulled the controls" of the plane. "The plane started to level out, a bit more, and then [another] pilot told me he was taking control from there," he said.

Zvika Manes told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that he and other passengers tied the attacker up "with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones".

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said the stabbed pilot, passengers and second crew had "managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster".