MUMBAI: Hundreds of tricolour-waving citizens assembled outside the residence of Captain Smit Machchhar in Tilak Nagar in the eastern suburbs on Thursday to honour his bravery after he thwarted an attempt by his co-pilot to crash a flydubai aircraft carrying 174 people from UAE to Tel Aviv.Holding his photographs, those assembled outside Swastik Heights residential complex prayed for Machchhar’s quick recovery. He was stabbed by his co-pilot in the cockpit of flydubai flight FZ1073 on Wednesday; the jet plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.Amid chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, several of those who gathered at Tilak Nagar sought a gallantry award like the Shaurya Chakra, or even the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, for Machchhar.“I have known Captain Smit since he was a child, and his family is very dear to me. I was also involved in business with his father for some time. His father raised both his sons, Smit and his brother, remarkably well. We are deeply proud of what he has achieved. His patience and presence of mind helped avert a serious disaster,” his neighbour Daulatbhai Vora said.Childhood friend Pratik Gandhi described Machchhar as an ambitious yet deeply grounded individual. “Smit is my childhood friend. We played cricket together, and I have seen his journey first-hand. We would often talk about his ambitions, his career growth, and his drive to do better,” Gandhi said.Amit Soni, a childhood friend of Smit who used to play cricket with him, described him as a very lively person. “We are deeply concerned about his health. Not just those who know him, but every Mumbaikar is proud of him,” he said. Soni said his parents live in a flat in the residential complex, while Machchhar, his wife and two children live in Dubai. They often visit Mumbai, he added.Soni said Machchar will receive a grand welcome when he visits Mumbai next.The Indian Embassy in Riyadh, in a social media post, said that the pilot is “admitted in a hospital in Tabuk city in northwest Saudi Arabia and receiving necessary medical attention.” The embassy and the Consulate General of India in Jeddah are closely monitoring Machchhar’s health and are in touch with his family, it said.
