Tel Aviv: Footage released by Israel's Channel 12 shows the chaos aboard flydubai flight after pilot Capt Smit Machchhar and other passengers overcame an attempt by the co-pilot to crash the plane flying to Tel Aviv from Dubai.
In a video clip shared by Channel 12 news, which is filmed from a seat near the cockpit, people are heard shouting, with one person saying "he tried to crash the plane," referring to the copilot who stabbed Capt Machchhar. Others yell "take him out" in the direction of the cockpit and ask people in the cabin to "sit down."
Calls for a doctor can then be heard and an Israeli dentist identified as Dr. Shota Musayev, rushes to the front of the plane to provide medical treatment. Another man asks whether there is an additional pilot on the flight, to which someone responds affirmatively.
The footage then shows a bloodied Captain Smit Machchhar lying on the ground outside the cockpit, whose door he earlier managed to click open and, in doing so, helped save the lives of all 180 people on the plane. Machchhar explains the copilot "hit me so many times" and that he can move his injured hand but no longer squeeze it shut.
The video resumes after the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, as medics attend to Machchhar. The other passengers tell the ground staff that the co-pilot "is a terrorist" as police teams arrive at the plane. The video ends with Capt Machchhar telling medics about his wounded hand.
The new footage came amid continued investigations into the copilot. Earlier, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the co-pilot who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination.
Speaking to Fox News, the Israeli PM said that the Pilot was currently being interrogated. Israeli investigators have joined the interrogation.
"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.
Also Read: A fight in the cockpit, a plunge from 33,000 feet: Inside the FlyDubai mid-air crisis
Netanyahu further revealed that from initial investigation it appeared that the Co-pilot was suicidal and was 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 told Fox and Friends.
Earlier, Netanyahu had 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 airplane," Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS News, recalling the incident. 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 hit with an axe 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.
Captain Smit Machchhar, meanwhile, is in a stable condition and is recovering well in a UAE hospital, India's Ambassador to the UAE Deepak Mittal, said on Thursday.
Deepak Mittal, who met the injured pilot and his family in a hospital here, said Smit Machchhar's morale is high and he was "smiling and also laughing".
Speaking to Prasar Bharati following his visit to the hospital, the Ambassador said that the captain is receiving good treatment and the Indian Embassy is in constant touch with the officials.
"I just met him along with his family here, in the hospital, in UAE, and he's doing well. I was very relieved to see, and very reassured, that he's doing well, he's quite stable. He was talking, he was chatting, a bit of discomfort, but I think he's under good medical care here in UAE," Dr. Mittal told Prasar Bharati.
Describing Captain Machchhar as a "brave son of India," the envoy commended his courageous response during the mid-air emergency, noting that his actions saved hundreds of lives and prevented a major catastrophe.
