Another video showing Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot who sustained serious injuries while allegedly foiling an attempt by his co-pilot to crash a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, emerged on Friday.
In the footage, Machchhar can be heard saying that the co-pilot “hit me so many times”. Passengers are also heard shouting, with one person saying, "He tried to crash the plane."
According to footage released by Israel's Channel 12, chaos erupted aboard the flydubai flight after Capt. Smit Machchhar and other passengers thwarted an alleged attempt by the co-pilot to crash the aircraft while it was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
This comes after the co-pilot of a Flydubai flight en route to Tel Aviv attempted to crash the aircraft on Wednesday, forcing an emergency landing. The flight FZ1073, which was carrying 174 passengers, eventually landed safely at Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
What's in the new video?
In the video clip shared by Channel 12 News, filmed from a seat near the cockpit, passengers can be heard shouting. One person says, "He tried to crash the plane,” apparently referring to the co-pilot who stabbed Capt. Machchhar.
Others can be heard yelling, "Take him out," in the direction of the cockpit, while passengers are also told to “sit down.”
Calls for a doctor can then be heard, prompting Israeli dentist Dr Shota Musayev to rush to the front of the plane to provide medical assistance. Another man asks whether there is another pilot on board, to which someone responds affirmatively.
The footage then shows a bloodied Captain Smit Machchhar lying on the floor outside the cockpit. He had earlier managed to unlock the cockpit door, an action that reportedly helped prevent the aircraft from crashing.
Machchhar can be heard explaining that the co-pilot “hit me so many times”. He also says that he can move his injured hand but is unable to squeeze it shut.
The video resumes after the plane makes an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, showing medics attending to Machchhar. Other passengers tell ground staff that the co-pilot “is a terrorist” as police teams arrive at the aircraft.
The video ends with Capt. Machchhar speaking to medics about his injured hand.
What did Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu say?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination.
"The attacker, the co-pilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated. What we know so far is that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," the Israeli Prime Minister said.
Netanyahu further said that, according to the initial investigation, the co-pilot appeared to be suicidal and was allegedly attempting to crash the plane.
"They had to use earphone cords to tie his hands and then used plastic cuffs. He is lying on the floor, and he calls out to the crew, 'Kill me, kill me.' So, it is clear that he was suicidal and was going to down the plane."
Netanyahu also hailed the "tremendous act of heroism" by Captain Smit Machchhar, saying the seriously injured pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door while "fighting for his life", helping prevent what could have been another 9/11-style crash.
"I think what happened is a tremendous act of heroism that prevented another 9/11-style crash of an entire aeroplane," Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS News, recalling the incident.
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Netanyahu said the flight was heading from Dubai to Israel when one of the co-pilots attacked Machchhar.
"What we know is that this plane that was heading from Dubai to Israel, as they approached Israel, one of the co-pilots stabbed or was hit with an axe by the other pilot, an Indian pilot. The pilot, who was hit, bleeding profusely and fighting for his life, managed to unlock the cockpit door, but the plane was going into a nosedive," he said.
Meanwhile, Captain Smit Machchhar is in stable condition and is recovering in a UAE hospital.