Surviving Flight Attendant Shares New Details of Azerbaijan Airlines Crash in Aktau

The surviving flight attendant of the Embraer E-190 aircraft from Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), which crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25 while en route from Baku to Grozny, Zulfuqar Asadov, shared details of the crash with APA TV.

He revealed that during the flight to Grozny, an emergency situation on board the aircraft occurred even before the emergency landing.

"We took off for Grozny at 8:00 am. As we were approaching the airport for landing, we saw that it was covered by very thick fog,” Asadov said. “The captain began the descent, but due to poor visibility, he had to go-around, hoping that the fog would clear. However, both the second and third landing attempts were unsuccessful."

According to the flight attendant, the pilot decided to head to the nearest airport.

"But at that moment, a strange sound came from outside the plane,” he said. “As a result of the impact that occurred on the outside of the plane, I got a cut on my hand.”

Asadov recounted that the captain made a critical decision to shift the landing from water to land. An emergency landing became unavoidable as the aircraft's engine had failed.

“A hard landing on water would have been catastrophic; the plane would have torn apart,” he added. 

Asadov dismissed Russian media claims of a gas cylinder explosion, stating it was false and noting that all passengers are thoroughly screened. He emphasized the crash resulted from an external impact on the aircraft.

Excluding the time spent flying from Baku to Grozny, he stated that the aircraft was in flight for approximately an hour.

“When the front landing gear touched the ground, the plane broke into two pieces, and the cockpit separated. Despite losing a significant amount of blood, I remained conscious, though breathing was extremely difficult,” Asadov explained.

“We began assisting passengers and helping them exit the plane. A rescue team was waiting for us outside. I called out to them because I had a serious hand injury and was running out of strength. I asked them to help evacuate the surviving passengers from the aircraft.”

Asadov noted that when they hit the ground, he thought they were already dead. 

“I had no hope of surviving. But by the grace of Allah, I did. Sadly, not all members of our crew or other passengers were as fortunate. We owe our survival to the heroism of our captain and co-pilot,” he concluded.

A Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on December 25, sources within the Azerbaijani government confirmed exclusively to Euronews on Thursday, December 26.

Additionally, according to Caliber, the aircraft's communication systems were entirely disabled by Russian electronic warfare (EW) systems, rendering it effectively blind and causing it to vanish from radar while over Russian airspace.