The Indian pilot of the Flydubai plane who was stabbed by his co-pilot and opened the cockpit door to let others in has said he was determined not to let others die.

Capt Smit Machchhar said he was on the floor and still being attacked when he realised the plane carrying more than 170 passengers was sinking and he had to do something.

“I was lying on the floor injured but I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside,” he said in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Others came in and also played a role [in controlling the situation]. I was of course fighting for my own life but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die,” he added.

Flydubai’s flight FZ1073, which was bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai early on Wednesday morning, plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) two and a half hours into its journey.

It first sent an emergency signal to air traffic controllers before switching to code squawk 7500, which indicates hijacking.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later told the media that one pilot had stabbed the other before “apparently trying to crash” the plane.

After fellow passengers overpowered the attacker, two reserve pilots, who were onboard, safely landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in north-western Saudi Arabia at 06:58 local time.

Machchhar, who has been hailed as a “true hero” by Netanyahu, was taken to hospital in Tabuk before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he is reported to be in a stable condition.

Netanyahu told Fox News the attacker was an Omani national and said investigations suggested he had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”.

He said that once the attacker had been subdued and tied up by passengers and crew, he was “calling out to the aircrew ‘kill me, kill me’, so it’s clear he was suicidal – that’s not a question”.

The United Arab Emirates has begun investigating “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose”, according to the country’s state news agency.