The government will hold international deliberations to assess whether an advisory needs to be issued to Indian airlines following an incident in which an Indian pilot was stabbed by his co-pilot onboard a flydubai flight, civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said on Thursday.
“This is an unfortunate incident but the nation is very proud of the fact that Capt Smit (Machchhar) , an Indian, was able to save lives… (Discussions on whether an advisory should be issued ) is under examination. We will sit and thereafter, we will discuss some security issues. It is believed that Machchhar was stabbed with a crash axe, an emergency tool usually located behind the pilot-in-command’s seat and designed to be readily accessible. He added, “We’re looking into that, we can’t draw conclusions yet. Also Read I Was Indian pilot hit with axe during flydubai ‘crash attempt’? Flydubai, however, did not provide an update on the health status of the pilots or the investigation into the incident.
We are examining this particular matter and maybe if some advisory is to be issued (to the airlines), we will put it to higher authorities for taking a decision in the matter… We will be able to answer more on the case once we have done our internal deliberations,” Sinha said. “He might have gotten an axe from the equipment that might be standard on this aeroplane,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News. Machchhar, according to a statement by the ministry of external affairs, was moved to Abu Dhabi on Thursday after receiving initial treatment in Saudi Arabia. Here’s what Israel PM Netanyahu said Officials said Capt Machchhar was stable and able to communicate on Thursday.
