Israel PM hails Indian pilot wounded in diverted flydubai flight

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Indian pilot who was wounded in an altercation with his co-pilot who allegedly tried to crash a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday.

“My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back... preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu said on social media.

Delhi’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said the pilot was being treated in a hospital in Tabuk following the emergency landing there earlier in the day.

Flight FZ 1073, originally from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had been diverted following what passengers and Israeli officials described as a violent attempt by one pilot to kill the other.