Azerbaijan Airlines crash: Heroic crew's tales of survival
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli described the dramatic events aboard the downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. The crash occurred on December 25 in Kazakhstan. Twenty-nine people survived.
Flight 8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines from Baku to Grozny ended in tragedy. On December 25, the plane crashed in Kazakhstan, and out of 67 people on board, 29 survived.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli was among those fortunate to survive. She recounted the dramatic moments to reporters from Khazar Khabar.
She survived the plane crash. Remembers the explosions
Rahimli recalls that there were two powerful explosions on board, which damaged the aircraft. Shrapnel injured passengers and crew.
"One of the passengers suffered a serious leg injury," Rahimli reported. The flight attendant also described how her colleague Hokuma Alijewa, who died, was helping passengers until the very end.
Another colleague survived the crash. Flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov, in a conversation with the "New York Times," said: "Thank God I'm alive."
Aydan was not conscious at the end. She regained consciousness only when she was removed from the wreck. "I opened my eyes and saw the rescuers. I asked where I was, and they said I was in Aktau," the flight attendant recounted.
Preliminary findings indicate that the plane was shot down by the Russian Pantsir-S system. There were also reports of disruptions in navigation systems. Azerbaijani government sources state that the missile was launched during a defense against Ukrainian drones.
The Azerbaijan Transport Minister and the Azerbaijan Airlines press service confirm that the crash was the result of external factors. Azerbaijani authorities are demanding an investigation to clarify the causes of the tragedy and determine who was responsible for shooting down the plane.
