NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed Captain Smit Machchhar as a “HERO” for his courage in protecting passengers despite being seriously injured during an altercation in the cockpit of a Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.“In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others,” PM Modi said in a post on X.“His valour helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy. India is proud of Captain Machchhar. Praying for his speedy recovery, renewed strength and good health.”Flydubai confirmed that flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport, experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.The incident involved an altercation between the pilots while the aircraft was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. An Israeli official told AP that one of the pilots was armed with a knife, while Reuters reported that the co-pilot was believed to have stabbed the captain before cabin crew entered the cockpit.
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The captain and first officer were injured and taken to hospital, according to Tabuk airport authorities cited by Saudi state television.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the evidence indicated that one pilot had stabbed the other and apparently attempted to crash the aircraft.Publicly available flight-tracking data showed that the aircraft transmitted an emergency alert around two-and-a-half hours after departing Dubai. It subsequently dropped sharply from about 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within roughly a minute before making an erratic turn near the Jordanian border.The circumstances surrounding the cockpit altercation remain under investigation.
