Witness told about plane crash near Almaty

A young man from Kazakhstan named Daniyar is claiming the he was the first person at the site of the CRJ-200 plane crash near Almaty airport told KTK channel what he saw. “I was in the car not far from the runway strip at the back side of Almaty airport. I heard a great rumble and the ground started shaking. I thought it was an earthquake at first. But then I felt a strong smell of kerosene (jet fuel) in the air,” the witness said. According to him, he tried to get closer to the crash site, but heavy fog and snow made it impossible. “The plane fell right in the middle of the field. I couldn’t get there as there was too much snow,” Daniyar said. He said that rescuers and other emergency response teams started arriving to the accident site 10 minutes after the tragedy. On January 29 the Bombardier airplane owned by Scat airline crashed 7km from Almaty airport during landing. According to the prosecutors, the plane was performing a Kokshetau-Almaty flight. The accident claimed lives of 5 crew members and 16 passengers. All emergency response teams and the city administration are working at the accident site. Almaty administration will render necessary support in organizing the funerals.