DUBAI. – Here is the video in which passengers can be seen attempting to help the injured captain Smit Machchhar on board a Flydubai aircraft. He was stabbed with a sharp object on Wednesday during the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The short video circulating on social media shows the bloodied captain after passengers reached him. The footage has been published by several international news organisations and shows the immediate aftermath of the incident on board the aircraft.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8, flight FZ1073, departed Dubai on 30 September at approximately 03:05 GMT bound for Tel Aviv and initially climbed to around 34,000 feet. About two hours after departure, a violent incident broke out in the cockpit when Machchhar, an Indian captain, was reportedly attacked with a knife by his colleague. The aircraft subsequently lost more than 14,000 feet in less than a minute before it stabilised.
Despite his injuries, Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door, after which passengers, including other pilots who were travelling as passengers, entered the cockpit and overpowered the attacker. The aircraft was subsequently diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia and landed safely. Captain Machchhar was admitted to a hospital in Tabuk following the landing and is described as stable according to the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia.
Reports indicate he has approximately 9,750 flight hours on Boeing 737 aircraft and previously worked for more than a decade with SpiceJet, including as a training captain, before joining Flydubai. The precise motive for the attack and the full sequence of events are still being investigated.
Sources: Israel War Room, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
