NEW DELHI: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his bravery after he was stabbed and seriously injured while trying to stop an alleged attempt to crash a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, saying he helped save the lives of 174 people on board.“My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster.He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery.He is a true hero,” Netanyahu said in a post.The flydubai rescue flight carrying passengers from the diverted flight landed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, The Times of Israel reported. About 180 passengers, most of them Israelis, were on the rescue flight.The original flight, flydubai FZ1073 travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, made an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia after an altercation in the cockpit.Machchhar, an Indian national based in Dubai, was reportedly stabbed and severely wounded during the incident. According to Israeli reports, he intervened after an alleged attempt to crash the aircraft.Netanyahu said the evidence indicated that the pilot had stabbed his fellow pilot and claimed there was an intention to crash the plane.
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In a video statement, Netanyahu described the incident as “an extremely serious security incident”. He said an Israeli passenger and a crew member managed to stop the pilot as he was allegedly attempting to damage the aircraft’s systems.Another crew member then entered the cockpit and managed to stabilise the plane, Netanyahu said. He added that Saudi authorities were interrogating the suspect.An Israeli official said a “severe disaster” had been averted.The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk, where it made the emergency landing. The passengers were later flown back to Israel on the rescue flight.
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