A heroic flight attendant has shared an inside account of the horrific plane crash that took place at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
The Aeroflot Superjet-100 crashed while making an emergency landing at the airport after the plane caught a mid-flight fire, claiming at least 41 lives.
However, the plane crew managed to save 37 passengers.
“I thank God – and the stewardesses who saved me,” survivor Dmitry Khlebnikov said.
“They were always with us, helping people to climb the slide and get out of the cabin full of smoke… It was dark and incredibly hot inside.”
Tatyana Kasatkina, a 34-year-old quick-thinking flight attendant, later revealed how she kicked open the airplane’s door to physically push the traumatic passengers on the emergency slide.
“When the plane stopped, the evacuation immediately began,” Kasatkina recalled. “The fire was visible. Everyone was shouting that we were on fire.
“But there was no fire inside the cabin at this moment… I kicked the door out with my leg and pushed out the passengers so as not to slow the evacuation.“Just to hurry them up I grabbed each of them by the collar from the back.”
She continued: “It was all so quick. The smoke was already black.
“The last people were crawling to get out… Everyone had jumped from their seats and moved forwards, although the plane was still moving at a good speed.
“I saw the first woman calling somebody on her phone and saying, ‘We are on fire, we are falling down’.”
The flight attendant recalled how a heavy hail storm started just after the plane took off, saying: “Lightning hit us. There was a flash followed by popping…
“We took off and got into a cloud and it was hailing. There was such a noise outside [as hail hit the plane]. At that moment it was a popping, mainly on the… left side…Everyone was looking at me.
“There was popping and a flash, like an electric flash.”
The 34-year-old said the internal communications of the plane started malfunctioning and she faced a lot of trouble in hearing the pilot.
She added: “The flight deck informed us that we were returning to our home airport.”
Denis Evdokimov, the plane’s captain, said: “We lost radio communication because of a lightning strike. We did not have radio communications during landing.
“We managed to resume it via an emergency frequency but it was abrupt and short.
“We managed to say a few words and lost it. And we had to connect it again. Air traffic control did help us, they guided us to the runway.
“The speed was not high, but normal for landing. Everything was according to the book. We gently approached the ground, slowing down.
“After a complete stop we ordered emergency evacuation. The second pilot was the first to leave the cockpit, they did.
“At first I did not glance outside. When I did, I saw a fire engine. The fire began after landing. We were not on fire when in the air.”
Dmitry Kharinin, another fortunate survivor, said of the horrific ordeal: “At first everything was good, the crew did well, they worked well during the first seconds.
“All special services arrived very quickly but people around were panicking. Thank God, the crew did well and quickly took the people out.”
Another survivor recalled: “It was dark there, with a high temperature. There was smoke. They were carrying the people out of there, helping them to go down the slide.”
Unfortunately, flight attendant Maxim Moiseev got killed while rescuing passengers from the blaze in the rear portion of the aircraft.
After the tragic incident, Aeroflot said in a statement that the plane crew evacuated the passengers in less than a minute and did their best to save everyone.
“The crew of the Aeroflot aircraft, which took off today from Moscow for Murmansk and was forced to return to Sheremetyevo airport due to technical reasons, did everything possible to save passengers,” the statement said.
“The aircraft was evacuated in 55 seconds, compared to the industry norm of 90 seconds. The captain was the last to leave the burning aircraft.
“Malfunctions on board the aircraft, which was operating flight SU1492 from Moscow to Murmansk, were detected shortly after takeoff.
“The crew was forced to request an emergency return to the airport. The engines caught fire after landing at Sheremetyevo; the fire was swiftly extinguished.
“Passengers left the aircraft via the emergency exits. Emergency medical assistance is being provided to all those in need.”
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