Chennai | The Flydubai incident is a "terror act," and would have ended up being a "bigger tragedy," but for the bravery of Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot, a senior Israel official said on Thursday.

Israel Consul General to South India, Orli Weitzman hailed the injured Machchhar as the "real hero," and said the people of her country, more than its leaders, were "very very appreciative" of the pilot who was attacked by his co-pilot with a knife, causing him bleeding injuries.

"But for Machchhar's bravery, we would have faced a bigger tragedy," Weitzman said during an online briefing.

To a question on any possible update on the injured pilot's health status, she said, "We don't know the situation." She was effusive in her praise for Machchhar, currently undergoing treatment at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia where the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight made an emergency landing following the mid-air scare.

She informed that he was attended to by an Israeli doctor onboard the ill-fated flight soon after he was attacked.

This was a "terror attack," but who was behind it and how the co-pilot managed to carry a knife, were being probed, she added.