Passengers capture moments before and after plane crash in Kazakhstan

On By Littum


New Delhi:

A harrowing video taken by a passenger inside the cabin of a plane that crashed in Kazakhstan today has been widely shared on social media, showing the doomed plane’s final moments. 38 people were killed in the crash near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea.

In the video, the passenger is heard saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as the plane enters a steep descent. Yellow oxygen masks were seen dangling above the seats. Screams and cries were heard, amid the soft doorbell-like sound of the “wear your seatbelt” light.

The plane flew from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on the western coast of the Caspian Sea to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia. Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane made an “emergency landing” about 3km from Aktau.

Another video taken inside the cabin – the plane’s ceiling panel, which has reading lights and the air blower is upside down – showed people screaming for help. The video was clearly after the plane had crashed.

Bloodstains on some armrests were visible.

Azerbaijani authorities said 32 people survived the crash of the Embraer 190, a narrow-body airliner.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev declared a day of national mourning on Thursday and canceled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a group of former Soviet nations.

The Kazakh Emergencies Ministry said its personnel were putting out a fire that broke out when the plane crashed. The Health Ministry said a special flight was dispatched from the Kazakh capital Astana with specialist doctors to treat the injured.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Aliyev and “also expressed his condolences in connection with the crash,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.

A Russian emergency ministry had been sent to Aktau with medical personnel and other equipment, President Putin said later as he opened the CIS leaders’ meeting in St. 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 that it crossed the Caspian Sea away from its normal route and then circled over the area where it eventually crashed.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation.

With input from AFP