Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke over the phone with Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot injured in an alleged attempt to crash an Israel-bound flydubai flight, and praised his bravery and presence of mind.
Captain Machchhar was seriously injured on Wednesday when his co-pilot allegedly stabbed him in the cockpit of the flydubai aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children. The captain is undergoing treatment at a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, and it was from his hospital bed that he took the Prime Minister’s call.
Modi said Indians are not those who take lives but those willing to risk their own lives to save others. He lauded the captain for a split-second decision that helped save the lives of hundreds of passengers, and said the pilot had enhanced the prestige of the Indian piloting community. Noting that Gandhi Jayanti was being observed the same day, the Prime Minister said Captain Machchhar had shown the world the true meaning of Ahimsa.
Captain Machchhar told the Prime Minister that his 17 years of flying experience, including 11 as a captain, helped him grasp the gravity of the situation and act immediately. He said he was away from the country but not from its culture, and thanked Modi for the call, adding that he was receiving the best possible treatment. The Prime Minister said special prayers were being offered across India for his speedy recovery and thanked the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE for ensuring his treatment. Captain Machchhar hails from Gujarat, and Modi also spoke to him briefly in Gujarati.
The call carries symbolic weight beyond the personal gesture. Indian pilots form a significant part of the aviation workforce in the Gulf, and an episode in which an Indian captain is credited with protecting passengers while gravely wounded has drawn national attention. The Prime Minister’s choice to link the act to Gandhi Jayanti gave the story a moral frame that few aviation incidents receive.
The circumstances of the incident remain a matter for investigation, and the term alleged applies to the accusation against the co-pilot until authorities complete their inquiry. What is on record is the outcome: a cockpit emergency, an injured captain and a flight that carried its passengers through. For now, attention in India and the Gulf remains on the pilot’s recovery.
