The flydubai captain injured when his co-pilot attacked him during a flight earlier this week said he opened the cockpit door to give passengers a chance to survive.
Smit Machchhar, pictured from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi with a tube in his nose and bandages covering his head and hands, recounted the ordeal during a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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“I was trying to save my own life, but I knew I could not let all those people die,” he told Mr Modi in a video the prime minister shared on social media.
“I knew that the aircraft was going down … I had fallen to the ground. I told myself that the door is right there, just open it. I managed to do it and people entered,” he said.
The aircraft was carrying 174 people when it dropped almost 14,000ft (4,267m) in under 30 seconds.
The incident happened while the plane was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv
“I have been flying for the last 17 years, have been a captain for the last 11 years, and even if I shut my eyes, I can tell what is happening inside a planeI knew that the aircraft was going down,” he said.
“When I was lying on the floor, I could feel that the aircraft was plunging and I said to myself while I was getting beaten, ‘this is the last push Smit, do it, the door is right there.’ Somehow, I opened the door and everyone came in and everyone else had an equal role (in the rescue). I was trying to save myself but I also knew that I can’t let anyone die.
“I am not thinking about my wounds like typical wounds because that will hinder my recovery.
“I am taking these wounds like a journey which will progress slowly and it will take time but I am very confident that this recovery will happen and I will be absolutely healthy.”
Mr Modi hailed Mr Machchhar’s courage, saying his quick thinking had helped save lives and upheld the reputation of Indian pilots.
“I know God saved me,” said Mr Machchhar, who comes from Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat. He also told the prime minister that he recited a Hindu prayer to Hanuman, the monkey god, during the attack.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that Mr Machchhar was covered in blood and lying on the floor when he succeeded in opening the cockpit door.
Passengers and crew were then able to overpower the co-pilot, while a second pair of flydubai pilots boarded the cockpit, took control of the aircraft and landed it in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
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US President Donald Trump has meanwhile warned that Iran would be “hit very hard” if investigators establish a link between Tehran and the attack.
The warning came as the United Arab Emirates launched an investigation into possible terrorist links to the incident, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had been subjected to “Islamist radical indoctrination”.
