The Embassy of India is following up on the condition of pilot Smit Machhar after he was stabbed by his co-pilot on a Flydubai flight

The diplomatic mission said in a statement: “Our embassy in Riyadh and our consulate in Jeddah are following up on the health condition of Samit Machhar, the brave Indian pilot on board the Flydubai flight, who today made an emergency landing in the city of Tabuk. He was transferred to Tabuk Hospital in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving the necessary medical care.”

The embassy added: "We are still waiting for complete information about his health condition, but reports indicate that it is stable. We hope that he will recover from his injuries as soon as possible."

The Hindustan Times newspaper had previously reported that Machhar was the captain of the plane on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The newspaper explained that the co-pilot stabbed him with a knife during the flight, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing at an airport in Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of the pilots stabbed the other and apparently tried to shoot down the plane, adding that the Saudi authorities were interrogating the co-pilot after his arrest. Reuters quoted an Israeli official that the co-pilot holds Omani citizenship.

On the other hand, Flydubai stated that members of its crew who were traveling on the flight secured the plane, diverted its course, and landed it safely at Tabuk Airport. The company reported that the motives for the accident are still unknown and are under official investigation. Tabuk Airport announced that the pilot and his co-pilot were taken to hospital injured.

Netanyahu said that the stabbed pilot opened the cockpit door, enabling passengers and crew members to control the attacker. Later, an alternative flight operated by Flydubai landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

According to Israeli Channel 12, the cause of the accident was a quarrel that broke out between the pilots. The Israeli channel "i24News" quoted eyewitnesses that one of them was injured by a knife stab.

According to the Israeli website Ynet, law enforcement agencies are verifying all available information. One of the most prominent hypotheses currently put forward, according to the site, is a suicide attempt by one of the pilots, perhaps with a terrorist motive.

According to his profile on the LinkedIn platform, Machhar has been working as a Boeing 737 pilot for Flydubai since June 2022, and joined the company directly as a pilot. Before that, he spent 11 years at the Mumbai-based SpaceJet, where he worked as a pilot, then a trainer since November 2020, training and evaluating other pilots.

The file indicates that his flight hours total amount to 9,750 hours on the 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 and 9 models.