Air hostess had to grab passengers by the collar and push them off the plane
A flight attendant on the Aeroflot flight that killed 41 people after bursting into flames at a Moscow airport has spoken about the horrific experience, and having to push passengers out of the aircraft.
Tatyana Kasatkina told The Sun that she was forced to shove terrified passengers onto the tarmac. It was reported that some passengers delayed the emergency evacuation by searching for their luggage.
The 34-year-old said she jumped into action the moment the plane stopped and kicked the door out to speed things up.
“I pushed out the passengers,” Ms Kasatkina said, adding that she had to “grab each of them by the collar”.
As the plane came to a halt on the tarmac, the flight attendant said the evacuation began immediately.
The rear exit of the plane was not accessible due to flames outside of the aircraft, so desperate passengers were only left with the front exit.
“Everyone was shouting that we were on fire but there was no fire inside the cabin at this moment,” she said
Ms Kasatkina described the cabin filling with black smoke as the final evacuees had to crawl to escape.
The flight attendant said a woman was standing in the aisle talking on the phone as the evacuation was underway, telling someone, “we are on fire”.
Only 37 of the people onboard survived the landing, the death toll of 41 included two children and one crew member.
Survivors of the ordeal have praised the quick thinking of airline staff.
“I thank God and the stewardesses who saved me,” passenger Dmitry Khlebnikov told the Sun.
Investigations into the cause of the disaster are still underway.
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