TEL AVIV: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that the Omani co-pilot who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar on board the flydubai flight on September 30, Wednesday had underwent 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.
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 Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, saying that 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 that 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.
Saudi Arabian authorities are at the moment conducting the preliminary investigation into the Omani co-pilot who attempted to crash flydubai flight FZ1073, after the Tel Aviv-bound plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Tabuk Airport.
The Times of Israel, citing an Israeli official, reported that following the conclusion of the Saudi inquiry, the suspect will be handed over to Emirati authorities for a secondary investigation. According to the official, Israeli authorities anticipate that the UAE’s investigation will yield more significant findings regarding the incident.
The flight Flydubai FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the mid-air incident occurred. The pilot of the flight Captain Smit Machchhar was attacked by his co-pilot, who stabbed him and attempted to take control of the aircraft. Despite his injuries, Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door, enabling passengers and crew to intervene.
The aircraft subsequently diverted and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The captain was taken to a hospital in Tabuk. Captain Machchhar, is now being airlifted to Abu Dhabi for advanced medical care after suffering stab wounds during a violent mid-air cockpit attack by his co-pilot.
(With Inputs from ANI)
