An Indian pilot, Smit Machchhar, says he tried to protect passengers during an alleged incident on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Wounded, he speaks from his hospital bed in a video shared on social media by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Machchhar tells Modi that while he focused on saving himself, he believed he could not “let all those people die.” Both outlets frame his account as an effort to safeguard those aboard the aircraft and describe him recounting his experience directly to the prime minister.
The reports do not provide additional operational details about what happened during the flight, but they present the core narrative as a personal testimony from the injured pilot. They also consistently connect the video message to Modi’s dissemination of the pilot’s account, positioning the statement as a firsthand description of the pilot’s reasoning at the time.
