New Delhi:
A harrowing video taken by a passenger inside the cabin of an aircraft that crashed in Kazakhstan today has been shared widely on social media, showing the final moments of the doomed plane. Thirty-five people were killed in the crash near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
In the video, the passenger is heard saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as the plane goes into a steep descent. Yellow oxygen masks were seen dangling over the seats. Screaming and crying were heard, amid the soft doorbell-like sound of the ‘wear seatbelt’ light.
The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on the western shore of the Caspian to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia. Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane “made an emergency landing” around 3 km from Aktau.
Another video taken inside the cabin – the plane’s ceiling panel that has reading lights and air blower is upside down – showed people screaming for help. The video was clearly after the plane had crashed.
The final moments of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane before its crash in Kazakhstan were captured by a passenger onboard.
Aftermath also included in the footage. pic.twitter.com/nCRozjdoUY
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 25, 2024
Blood stains on some armrests were visible.
Azerbaijani authorities said 32 people survived the crash of the Embraer 190, a narrow-body passenger aircraft.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of national mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.
The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed. The health ministry said a special flight was being sent from the Kazakh capital Astana with specialist doctors to treat the injured.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and also “expressed his condolences in connection with the crash”, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.
A Russian emergency situations ministry had been sent to Aktau with medical personnel and other equipment, President Putin said later as he opened the CIS leaders’ meeting in Saint Petersburg.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram: “I express my condolences to the relatives of the passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines jet who died.”
The plane’s course on Flight Radar showed it crossing the Caspian Sea away from its normal route and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed.
Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation.
With inputs from AFP