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Air crash in Aktau: media reports on the heroism of the aircraft crew

Photo by Isa Tajenbayev and Erlan Jumayev/Tengrinews

Tengrinews.kz - On December 25, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, flight AHY8243, crashed on the Baku-Grozny route. Azerbaijani media reports on the heroism of the crew, thanks to which it was possible to save people's lives.

Tengrinews.kz - On December 25, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, flight AHY8243, crashed on the Baku-Grozny route. Azerbaijani media reports on the heroism of the crew, thanks to which it was possible to save people's lives.

The Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft, designed to carry 106 passengers, gave an "emergency" signal over the Caspian Sea and tried to land in Aktau. However, the attempt ended in disaster. There were 69 people on board. Among them were 5 crew members: Igor Kshnyakin, Aleksandr Kalyaninov, Hokuma Aliyeva, Zulfugar Asadov, Aydan Rahimli.

As the Day.Az portal writes, the pilots heroically tried to save the plane, professionally performing their duties.

"It is thanks to them that half of the passengers will soon be able to return home to their families and friends. If the plane had not caught fire, there would have been fewer deaths," the article says.

According to the portal, the surviving passengers thanked the flight attendants for their clear work and adherence to instructions, which helped to avoid panic on board.

As emphasized in the 1News.az publication, the pilots steered the plane away from residential buildings and saved people.

It is specified that the Embraer airliner almost fell on houses in the village of Saina Shapagatova. The crew directed the plane in time towards the outskirts of the air harbor to avoid casualties among civilians.

A former military pilot and author of the Fighterbomber Telegram channel told the Minval Politika publication that if the plane had fallen into the sea nearby, the passengers would not have had a single chance.

"The crew fought to the last. As for the water landing, with such a failure and such flight parameters, in the event of an emergency water landing, there would have been no survivors. The water is not soft at all, and those who survived the collision with the water surface would have simply drowned. The fact that the pilots managed to save 30 people is a real miracle," he noted.

The Oxu.Az portal told about one of the survivors of the plane crash, flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov, who devoted more than 30 years of his life to aviation. According to the victim's family, they were shocked to learn about what happened. Asadov himself contacted his relatives at the first opportunity and assured them that he was safe.

Earlier, the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, flying from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Grozny (Russia), crashed three kilometers from Aktau at 11:30 AM local time on December 25. The passenger flight was unable to land in Grozny due to heavy fog, first it was redirected to Makhachkala, and then to Aktau.

There are several versions of the cause of the crash. According to one version, the crash was caused by a collision of the plane with a flock of birds. Other media outlets report that an oxygen tank exploded on board. The Embraer lost control and crashed when it was less than 3 minutes away from Aktau Airport.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, there were 69 people on board, including 5 crew members:

42 citizens of Azerbaijan;
16 citizens of Russia;
6 citizens of Kazakhstan;
3 citizens of Kyrgyzstan;
two unidentified women of unknown citizenship, one about 32 years old, the other about 40 years old.

Azerbaijan Airlines also published a full list of passengers.

According to the latest data, there are 29 survivors, citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

What is known about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed near Aktau?

The aircraft that crashed near Aktau was an Embraer ERJ-190, a twin-engine jet widely used for short and medium-haul flights. The aircraft are manufactured by a Brazilian company. The ERJ-190 (E190) is designed to carry between 96 and 114 passengers, depending on the cabin configuration. These aircraft can fly up to 4500 kilometers.

On December 26, residents of the Mangystau region saw off nine Russian citizens injured in the plane crash in Aktau to Moscow, according to the press service of the regional akimat (local government administration).

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