FlyDubai Captain Smit Machchhar has described fighting for his life after his co-pilot attacked him during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv carrying more than 170 passengers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox & Friends that Machchhar was “stabbed in the head, and his arm was basically split in two, and there was a lot of blood.”
Machchhar recounted the attack to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call. He said he had fallen to the floor, wounded, but kept fighting.
“At that moment, I was fighting for my life.”
He said that even while on the ground and still being hit, he was able to track what was happening to the aircraft because he has flown for 17 years, the last 11 as a captain. He told himself, “This is the last push, Smit; the door is right there,” and forced the door open.
Machchhar credited others on board who stepped in to help, saying everyone involved shared a role in saving the plane. He said he was fighting to save himself but “knew he couldn’t let anyone else die.”
Netanyahu said a dentist traveling on the flight helped stabilize Machchhar after the aircraft was secured. Machchhar was first treated in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, before being transferred to Abu Dhabi for further medical care. He told Modi he was fine, and Modi told him everyone was praying for him and proud of what he had done.
Authorities are investigating the co-pilot who carried out the attack, with officials looking into possible radical Islamist indoctrination and how he came to be assigned to the flight.
