The Israeli passengers who overpowered the co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073 told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the attacker said he had failed in his mission and would rather die, according to footage of their meeting released Thursday.
The passengers said the co-pilot shouted "kill me" in English after he was restrained, and that they asked to communicate with him in English because that was the language he used. One said the attacker told them he had failed in his mission and preferred to die. Netanyahu earlier told Fox News that the co-pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was suicidal, and that he shouted "kill me, kill me" after he was subdued.
One passenger described the scene in the cockpit when he entered. He said the attacker was already on the floor, and there was a great deal of blood, most of it from the captain, Smit Machchhar. The attacker may also have been injured, he said, but not nearly as badly as the captain, whose hands and head were covered in deep cuts.
Another passenger described the effort to keep the captain alive. The first priority was stopping the bleeding, and he monitored the captain's pulse throughout. Netanyahu asked whether he had given the captain oxygen and opened his airway, and he confirmed both.
The passengers said they dragged the attacker out of the cockpit within seconds and pinned him down. With nothing else on hand, one passenger came up with the idea of tying him with headphone cords to stop him from struggling. Only afterward were they given plastic restraints.
A third passenger said he felt a commotion and then the plane's dive. When people called for help at the front of the plane, he went forward and helped hold the attacker down, adding that at that moment they felt they could not trust anyone.
Netanyahu called the passengers' actions great Israeli heroism and said the whole world identified with it. He said Israel was in a very sensitive period and that its enemies intend to harm Israelis, and that the incident would be investigated thoroughly.
He urged Israelis to learn from the passengers and stay alert. "Not to cancel plans, not to cancel flights," Netanyahu said, but to continue with heightened vigilance.
The co-pilot, an Omani national, allegedly stabbed Machchhar in the cockpit during the Dubai to Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday. The plane landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Machchhar was airlifted to Dubai on Thursday for further treatment.
