TEL AVIV, September 30. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the stabbed Indian Flydubai pilot for his heroism and exceptional courage in rescuing the passengers on a flight bound for Tel Aviv.

"My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery. He is a true hero," he wrote on X.

The Hindustan Daily reported on Wednesday that the stabbed pilot of the Flydubai air carrier’s flight en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day was Indian national Smit Machchhar. It said referring to Machchhar’s LinkedIn profile that he has been "a captain on Flydubai Boeing 737 fleet since June 2022. Before that he spent 11 years at SpiceJet in Mumbai, where he was a senior commander and, from November 2020, a line training captain who trained and checked other pilots. The profile lists 9,750 flying hours on the 737-800 and the 737 MAX 8 and 9."

On September 30, a Flydubai passenger aircraft triggered a hijacking alert before landing in Saudi Arabia. Flydubai’s press service confirmed to TASS that all passengers were safe.

According to Israel’s Channel 12, the incident was caused by a fight between the two pilots. Israeli broadcaster i24News, citing eyewitnesses, reported that one of the pilots had been stabbed. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident aboard the plane as an attempted terrorist attack.