Video from inside fireball plane as details emerge of why evacuation was delayed
Terrifying video has emerged from inside a burning Russian passenger plane as authorities reveal travellers delayed its evacuation.
The airport said the Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot caught fire when it made a hard emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday with 41 people dying.
"There were 78 people on board, including crew members," the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
"According to updated information, 37 out of them survived."
But an airport official told The Mirror those on board held up the evacuation.
“Many passengers delayed emergency evacuation - because against all instructions - they were picking up hand luggage from overhead compartments,” the official told the paper.
Russian news agency Interfax cited a source who said debris had found its way into the engines, sparking a fire that swiftly engulfed the rear of the fuselage.
‘A real tragedy’
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Sunrise “it is likely” more people would have survived had passengers not stopped to pick up bags adding a number of them could be seen carrying luggage off the plane.
“Clearly this is a situation where passengers getting their bags instead of [getting] off the aeroplane has tragically caused 13 people (now 41) to lose their lives,” Mr Thomas told the program.
“It is a real tragedy that this has happened.”
The Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation and was looking into whether the pilots had breached air safety rules.
Some passengers blamed bad weather and lightning.
‘Like a grasshopper’
Passenger Pytor Egorov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda Daily lightning “struck the plane”.
"The plane turned back and there was a hard landing,” he told the paper.
“We were so scared, we almost lost consciousness. The plane jumped down the landing strip like a grasshopper and then caught fire on the ground."
With Reuters and The Associated Press
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