.png)
10 months ago
8
ARTICLE AD BOX
A PLANE with 111 people on board suddenly lost pressure, releasing oxygen masks as passengers screamed and the aircraft plunged to the ground.
Dramatic video captured the heart-stopping final moments on board the Airbus A319 before it was forced to make an emergency landing.
East2West
Oxygen masks are released from above as children cry and adult passengers pray
East2WestOxygen masks dropped, children cried, and adult passengers uttered prayers as the plane’s crew scrambled to cope with the emergency.
It is understood the Russian plane was bound for St Petersburg.
One passenger recalled: “We started to drop sharply. Everyone’s masks dropped down over their heads.”
A man who was on board said: “Children were screaming, women were praying, everyone was stressed.”
Another passenger told news outlet Fontanka: “It was very scary. I’ve never used a mask before. I had to.
“But the stewardesses were fearless, carrying water [to passengers]. They smiled.”
She praised the pilots in the cabin for their “wonderful job” in managing to bring the plane safely to the ground just 20 minutes into the flight.
According to reports, the Airbus A319 returned “safely” to the same airport from where it it had taken off to the sounds of applause and shouts of “bravo” from passengers.
It comes one day after “micro-explosions” led to fires in both engines of a Boeing 737 with 175 passengers on board, resulting in another emergency landing.
The S7 airline plane was en route to Moscow from Novosibirsk, Russia‘s third largest city, when disaster struck about 6.30am yesterday.
Passengers claimed the fires started while the plane was on the runway taking off.
One said: “The right engine, next to which I was sitting, caught fire while still on the runway, several flames burst out.
“We took off and it flared up once every 10 to 20 seconds.
“Then the second engine caught fire, and they flashed simultaneously.”
Shot media reported: “While climbing, sparks and flames suddenly flew from both engines.”
One day prior, a Tu-204 cargo aircraft suffered an engine “explosion” which was heard from the ground after the plane took off from Ulan-Ude in Siberia.
Footage showed the aircraft ablaze as it dropped fuel and made an emergency landing.
Witness Lyubov Pichueva said: “I heard a powerful explosion coming from above.
“At first I thought it was fireworks, but the sound was too strange.
“It was very scary.”
There were 120 air accidents in Russia involving civil aircraft operated by Russian airlines in the first eight months of this year – more than double that seen in previous years despite there being significantly fewer flights since Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine.
English (US)