Smit Machchhar says in video call with Indian PM that he realised if he did not get up then ‘passengers would lose their lives’

The Indian pilot who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a flydubai flight has described how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent.

Capt Smit Machchhar, who is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, in a video call broadcast live on television news channels that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save the passengers onboard.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said on Friday from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.