Azerbaijan Airlines: “I heard a strong explosion”: a crash survivor tells

“I heard a strong explosion, the oxygen masks have fallen, the plane trembled,” recalls Rinat Assanov, a survivor of the Azerbaijan Airlines crash which cost the 67 people on board at the end of December Kazakhstan.

The main track is that of an error shot from the Russian anti -aircraft defense, even if Moscow has not admitted it.

Back home to Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan, in the north of this mountainous country of Central Asia, Rinat, 20, says he should stay “lying all day” to rest his “sore body”. He must still follow a processing for six months and this computer student prohibits doctors from looking at the images of the crash.

One month after the Flight 8243 crash which should have linked on December 25, 2024 Bakou, the capital of Azerbaijan, in Grozny, in Chechnya, the exact circumstances have not yet been officially established. Azerbaijan openly accuses Moscow of having shot the plane by accident and then of trying to camouflage this reality.

The images showing holes on the fuselage of the plane recall those of the MHH17 flight of the Malaysia Airlines, shot down in July 2014 by a Russian Buk anti-aircraft missile above the Ukrainian territory under the control of the separatist rebels, killing 298, including 298 dead, Four Luxembourg residents.

Kazakhstan, ally of Moscow, announced on Friday to have shifted the publication of the analysis of black boxes next week.

Like many Kirghiz citizens for whom Russia remains a privileged destination to earn a living, Rinat Asanov, an orphan from adolescence, planned to go there via Azerbaijan. After a first night flight between the capital Kirghize, Bichkek, and Bakou, Rinat climbs on the plane which was to lead him to Chechnya and falls asleep, exhausted.

“I was awakened by an explosion. It made such a noise. I saw on the left side of the plane a kind of plastic broken and the oxygen masks fell, ”he says. “Then there was a second noise, five to ten minutes later. And everyone panicked, people got up and walked everywhere, cried … An air hostess told us to calm us down, “continues Rinat.

But the plane continues its flight to go to Aktaou, on the other side of the Caspian Sea. So far, this dangerous detour on a damaged plane has never been explained, Moscow confirming himself to say that it was a choice of the pilot, even if there were closer aerodromes.

“We still stolen about an hour and a half and during all this time, I hoped that the plane was in good condition, which we would normally land,” said the one who regularly frequented sports halls before this catastrophe.

After crossing the Caspian Sea separating the Centrale from Central Asia, the device of the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer finally crashes in the steppe, three kilometers from Aktaou airport. “The air hostess told us that the plane was going to have an emergency landing on earth, to prepare for the shock and to go out by emergency outings,” said Rinat to AFP.

“We were told how to protect our head and that we had to sit properly and remove all cutting objects, such as watches,” he continues.

“There I understood that the plane fell somewhere in a field, not at all towards the airport. And I said to myself “why me, why this plane, why now”. I see that the earth is getting closer, I was so afraid that I lost consciousness. And I woke up in the hospital, ”says citizen Kyrgyz.

After three days of coma, he was evacuated to Kyrgyzistan, where he is placed in intensive care. If he refuses for the moment to take the plane, Rinat remains optimistic and plans to continue studies of geodesy after obtaining his diploma in computer science. “Life continues as before. I just found myself in this situation and will live with it. ”

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