Occupants of crashed Azerbaijani plane heard explosions

Occupants of the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday say they heard explosions coming from outside the plane. Reuters news agency spoke to two passengers and a flight attendant who survived the crash.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was en route from the capital Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny, the capital of the Russian autonomous republic of Chechnya, when it changed direction for an emergency landing. Thirty-eight people were killed. 29 people survived the crash.

The Azerbaijani government assumes the plane was shot out of the sky. “The investigation will determine what kind of weapon made the impact from outside,” Transport Minister Nabyev said. No culprit has been identified.

“After the explosion, I thought the plane would fall apart,” said survivor Subhonkul Rakhimov. He says he was preparing for the end and started praying.

Panic

Occupant Vafa Shabanova heard two bangs. “About half an hour after take-off, we felt two explosions. Something exploded twice in the plane, which made us panic.”

Shabanova was instructed by a flight attendant to go to the back of the plane. Both passengers said that after the bang or bangs, there seemed to be a problem with the oxygen level in the cabin.

Watch how Subhonkul Rakhimov experienced the emergency landing here:

Flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov says he heard the bangs after the pilot was denied permission to land in Grozny due to fog.

“The pilot was just taking off when I heard a bang from the left wing. There were three bangs.” He also said the pilot was advised to land the plane at sea. Instead, he decided to head to Aqtau in Kazakhstan to land the plane on the ground there.

Asadov said several people were injured by the explosions. “One passenger was injured in the leg. I was injured in my arm.” The crew of the plane had to calm the panicked passengers.

Aviation experts said earlier that the plane was fired upon by Russian air defenses. According to Azerbaijan Airlines, the crash was caused by “external physical and technical interference.” It is unclear what the airline means by this.

The airline has temporarily canceled flights to a number of cities in Russia.