A strange banging noise, chaos, and prayers before a plane crash There was a first banging noise outside the aircraft. Then, while standing in the cabin, there was one flight attendant: something hit his arm with a cut. The passengers perceived that something was terribly wrong. Panic started. They began to pray.
In this instance, one of the passengers remembers thinking he would never pray again after that. Then, the silence.
Two flight attendants, Zulfugar Asadov and Aydan Rahimli, and a passenger, Subhonkul Rakhimov, recalled the bedlam on board Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 in interviews with The New York Times on Friday and an Azerbaijani TV station.
They were among 29 who survived from the plane that took off Wednesday from Baku, Azerbaijan with 67 persons on board headed to Grozny, Russia who crashed in a ball of black smoke and orange flames on the shores of Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. The pilot was among them, however.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia have launched probes into what led to the crash.
Recalling the terror of the flight in his hospital bed in Baku, Asadov told me in a phone interview that he was "thankful to be alive." And among his survivors, he said, "The plane hit turbulence over Grozny," which is in Russia's Chechnya republic. It had tried three times to land there, the Embraer 190, Asadov explained and then started to behave strangely.
According to Flightradar24, over the last 74 minutes of flight, the aircraft's data indicated that its vertical speed was oscillating over 100 times.
The strange noise, heard from the outside of the aircraft fuselage, and Asadov's arm getting cut whatever it was that did it-he does not know resulted in Asadov tying himself up tightly with a towel.
Rahimli, the other surviving flight attendant said, helped Asadov treat his arm. According to Xezer Xeber from the Azerbaijani television network, Rahimli said that she had heard two bangs out of the airplane and she saw fragments piercing the cabin.
Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday, that the preliminary results of the investigation in Azerbaijan indicated that there was a "physical and technical external interference" of the aircraft.
U.S. intelligence agencies could not confirm this yet. Officials in the United States said there are preliminary indications the plane was shot down by a Russian anti-air system, probably a surface-to-air missile."The reported jolt made some passengers stand up in panic, he said.
Rakhimov, a passenger, was quoted in a Reuters interview with him as he was interviewed at a Baku hospital. He reports hearing the impact too; he then noticed that the aircraft fuselage had been dented. Said he at the time then: he believed that, sure enough, the plane would collapse: he began praying for himself,
Several critical events happened within those few minutes between it losing contact and striking the ground, eyewitnesses and footage of the disaster suggest before Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan on 25 December 2024.
Explosion in mid-air: The passengers had witnessed a big bang. As survivor Subkhonkul Rakhimov testified, "There was some explosion mid-air," when he woke up. That caused significant damage to the cabin, forcing the oxygen masks to come on. After the incident, the plane briefly leveled and climbed before the damage that ensued proved fatal.
Erratic Flight Behaviour: The flight turned chaotic and erratic while flying to the Aktau Airport after the explosion. Rakhimov relates in his account that he prayed while believing it was his religion that could save him too.
Reportedly, the plane had made an attempt at an emergency landing. It was turned back because the fog of Grozny had played havoc with visibility, and it had crashed at Aktau, according to eyewitness reports. This is said to have been witnessed and pointed out by eyewitnesses claiming the plane, in its descent, lost its control and burst into flames upon impact.
Final Moments and Evacuation: As soon as the aircraft crashed on the ground, Rakhimov recalls being thrown back into his seat, where he lost consciousness immediately after. When he regained consciousness, he started to try to help people inside since rescue teams began approaching; he has appreciated the courage displayed by the crew members while they could evacuate passengers 13.
Video Evidence: Footage from the last moments of the aircraft before it crashed gives an illustration of its descent and impact with the ground. This video has gone a long way in analyzing the sequence of events that could have led to the tragic disaster2
This brought together all the factors that made the situation on the aircraft so terrifying, claiming lives and underlining substantial challenges in aviation emergencies.
They promptly reacted to the deafening boom that occurred at the incident of Azerbaijan Airlines by offering equal portions of panic mixed with instincts. Many commenced screaming and crying while turning others to pray, thus because that moment of crisis calls for all the fear such an individual could possibly face.
Passenger Response
Cries and Screams: People were clearly distressed, shouting out in loud screams with their fears. The air in the cabin immediately became charged with emotion.
Prayers and Comfort: Some people began praying to calm themselves in a bid for comfort in uncertainty. Such a response showed that everyone present was afraid of being aboard.
Physical Response: The noise was so jarring that it dazed everybody; some of the passengers remarked that they had felt they would be tumbled out of their seats. Chillingly, all the oxygen masks had opened and people were fighting to shove them over their noses and mouths.
Communication Efforts: Some tried to contact their loved ones. This is an act showing that they fear living or dying. This is something that normally occurs
in crisis situations in which people are out of control.
Overall, the immediate aftermath of the bang was a place full of fear, instinctive reactions, and an impassioned need for reassurance among the passengers.
Following the loud bang in the Azerbaijan Airlines flight incident, the flight crew's response was key to handling the situation and ensuring the safety of passengers. Here is how they handled the emergency:
Flight Crew Response
Immediate Appraisal The crew immediately appraised the situation after hearing the bang. The captain and co-pilot maintained aircraft control as they assessed any possible immediate threats to safety, which may be mechanical failure or fire.
Communication: A prime requirement in cases of emergencies is communication. While performing their roles, pilots had to communicate with cabin crew and passengers. Being the authority, the captain could send priority information on matters of safety above other communications until it became practical to advise the passengers about what was happening.
Emergency Procedures: The crew followed very well-defined emergency procedures. These consisted of checklists for emergencies, which assured that no step would be omitted, like shutting off the engines and preparing for evacuation in case
Cabin Crew Coordination: The cabin crew was trained to feel when evacuation might be required. Once they sensed a crisis, they started coordinating with each other and the flight deck, which was teamwork very important for such a situation.
Evacuation Orders: Only after declaring the area safe, the captain issued instructions on what passengers are to do next. At other times, cabin crew initiated evacuations by their judgment of the situation where communication with the cockpit had been cut off
Passenger Control: During these incidents, the cabin crew would attempt to relax passengers and keep them relaxed while instructing them as well as reassuring them, striving to balance panic with the instruction for passengers to sit down until it becomes safe to evacuate2
Conclusion
Indeed what the crews had done helped manage that stressful condition brought to the world in a manner of seconds after the bang. In many regards, indeed, this will be some of their team's fine work which took care and kept their precious passengers unharmed on one of the most disturbing experiences each and every single one would desire to shy away from:.
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