FlyDubai captain tells Indian leader how he saved himself and 173 others while fighting for his own life

THE FlyDubai captain attacked by his co-pilot on a Wednesday flight to Israel, said his faith gave him the courage to seize what he believed was the last chance to save himself and the 173 other people on the plane.

Captain Smit Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an emotional video call from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday that, despite multiple stab wounds, he had managed to open the cockpit door to let in. passengers who overpowered the attacking co-pilotprobably saving all 174 people on board the Boeing 737.

“I was fighting for my life,” said Machchhar, an Indian national. “When I was lying on the ground, I felt the plane going down. I knew exactly that this would be the last push. I told myself that if I didn’t get up, there would be a problem. I managed to open the door, and then everyone came in.”

Machchhar told Modi how, in his darkest moments, he would repeat Hindu religious chants and cling to his faith, believing that “God would save us.”

He apologized for breaking down in tears as he told the Indian leader that he had never really been “proud of myself, but today I am.”

The first question Modi asked Machchhar was how he was feeling, to which Machchhar, wearing a bandage around his head and with an oxygen tube still in his nose, replied simply: “Everything is fine, sir.”

“I don’t think so much about injuries,” the captain said. “I view this as a journey. I am confident in my recovery and return.”

“Get better and be healthy, the entire nation is with you,” the Indian leader told him. “I don’t want to bother you too much. My best wishes are with you.”

Co-pilot transferred to UAE for interrogation

The co-pilot of FlyDubai Flight 1073, who has not been identified by authorities, was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for questioning by Israeli, Emirati and Saudi officials, an Israeli official confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

“Over time, the picture becomes clearer: the aggressor suffered Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with his passengers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday. “We are investigating whether it was sent, and whoever sent it will pay a very high price.”

Saudi officials said Wednesday that the co-pilot was hospitalized after the incident and treated for unspecified injuries.

An Omani official confirmed to CBS News that the co-pilot was born in Oman and currently holds Omani citizenship, but the Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.

Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel knew he had undergone “radical Islamist indoctrination” based on “personal information” collected during the initial interrogation. He provided no further information about the alleged indoctrination on Thursday or Friday, but told Fox News on Thursday that the alleged attacker was “suicidal” and that after being overpowered by other crew members and passengers, he shouted, “Kill me, kill me!”

President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot was linked to Iran, going further than Netanyahu, who said it was still “too early to tell” whether Iran might have been involved.

“We’re working on it right now,” Mr. Trump said Thursday at the White House when asked by a reporter whether the co-pilot had ties to Iran. “They’re very open with us. I would say the answer, from what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.”

Asked whether the co-pilot could have worked for or with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or had been radicalized in some other way, Mr. Trump said he “could have been, yes.”