‘I was fighting for my life’: FlyDubai captain recounts attack
New Delhi, Oct 3 — Captain Smit Machchhar, recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call how he fought for his life after his co-pilot stabbed him.
On September 30, aboard FlyDubai Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the co-pilot attacked the captain and the plane began a steep descent.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” Machchhar said from hospital, his head bandaged. “I was fighting for my life.”
Despite his injuries, he managed to open the cockpit door, letting passengers and crew restrain the attacker. The jet was carrying 182 people and diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
Modi told him his “courage, patience, and presence of mind” saved many lives. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia. Airline safety agencies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are probing the attack. FlyDubai said the jet was secured by on-duty crew members who landed it safely.
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