Tourist plane passengers have spoken of their terror as their holiday jet burst into flames after a nightmare hard landing in high winds at the Turkish resort Antalya.
There was panic and chaos on board as the cabin filled with black smoke, and those on board began to “suffocate”. There was a “stampede” to exit the stricken aircraft as flames swirled from ignited kerosene that had leaked onto the runway.
All 95 passengers and crew miraculously escaped by evacuation slides amid fears the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft would explode.
One report said the wing clipped the runway as the Russian Azimuth Airlines aircraft swayed in high winds.
There were also reports that the jinxed Superjet’s autopilot failed on approach and that the manual landing was too fast on the flight from Sochi to Antalya.
Azimuth plane fire survivor Evgeniya Lavrinenko – a TikTok influencer – said: “There was panic in the cabin; people started jumping up, trying to get their bags, putting them in the aisle.
“And then a sharp flash in all the windows showed that the fire had burst into flames. Smoke poured strongly into the cabin.
“There was a crush; nobody let anyone through. Everyone was trying to carry their suitcases for some reason. They wouldn’t let kids through, they wouldn’t let anyone through.”
One heroic passenger is reportedly forced open a plane door after a female cabin crew member panicked because she could not open it.
“We were sitting almost at the very end, and there was smoke coming from behind,” said Evgeniya.
She continued: “And then someone shouted that there were evacuation slides at the back of the plane – run back. We ran back, and there was even more smoke, we started to suffocate. Then they tell us the opposite, run forwards. I shouted to my child to cover her face with a cloth so she could breathe
“We ran forwards, and we were among the last to get out. You could see the fire brigade had arrived, they were putting out the fire. We came down on this slide. My daughter was first, I followed her, screaming all around us. It was very scary.”
She said: “We all ran to a field because we didn’t know if the plane would explode or what would happen to it. My daughter was crying, everyone was crying, but luckily everyone survived.”
Two loud impact sounds were heard as the plane with 87 passengers and six crew on board.
The airline said: “On November 24, 2024, during landing of Azimuth Airlines flight A45051 Sochi-Antalya, a rough landing occurred as a result of wind shear. The commander decided to evacuate via inflatable slides.”
Russian diplomats came to the airport to help passengers, some of whom had lost their passports on the plane. They had to wait hours for their baggage.
The passengers have threatened a class action lawsuit against Azimuth Airlines.
Telegram channel VChK-OGPU said its sources reported that “the autopilot of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 that caught fire in Antalya failed… ”
The Superjet is Vladimir Putin’s pet project. It was intended as a Russian short-haul aircraft to challenge Boeing and Airbus models.
In 2012, it suffered a crash in Indonesia, killing all 45 on board. In 2019, a Superjet crashed landed in Moscow after being struck by lightning, killing 41 out of 78 on board.
The Superjet has a reputation as jinxed due to repeated technical and operational problems since its introduction in 2011.