Who is Smit Machchhar, the Indian FlyDubai captain stabbed during mid-air cockpit clash?

A clash broke out between two pilots of a FlyDubai commercial plane travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel on Wednesday, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

The episode initially raised concerns about a possible hijacking, with the aircraft carrying dozens of Israeli pᴀssengers, thus prompting Tel Aviv to scramble warplanes.

It was later revealed that a fight had broken out between the pilots, and one of them had stabbed the other with a knife. The Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, where the plane made an emergency landing, revealed that the aircraft’s captain and first officer were injured and taken to the hospital.

Video footage circulating on social media showed two men on the floor of the plane, with bloody wounds. Two people appear to be providing emergency medical treatment, while two others guard the cockpit. “We are guarding the pilot,” one person says in Hebrew, as per ᴀssociated Press, which reviewed the footage. In another video, pᴀssengers weep and cry out in distress as the aircraft shakes.

The pilot who was stabbed turned out to be an Indian national, Smit Machchhar. His condition was not immediately known.

As per Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the pilot who stabbed Machchhar attempted to crash the plane, and he has now been arrested by Saudi Arabian authorities.

“I salute these heroes who showed exceptional resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster,” said Netanyahu in his Wednesday statement.

Pᴀssengers were scared after the flight abruptly descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within a few minutes before it started making an erratic circle near the Jordanian border. It eventually landed in Tabuk.