'Thunderous sound...'; Malayali in Kazakhstan about Azerbaijan Airlines crash

ASTANA: Tragedy struck on Friday after an Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near Aktau killing 38 passengers. Jins, a native of Kanjirappally witnessed the tragic incident and revealed the details to an online media. The flight crashed near the hotel where Jins worked.

JINS:

“I was travelling in a vehicle to the workplace when the thunderous sound shocked us. It was my co-passenger who first saw the flight nosediving. We soon rushed to the spot. We had no permission to get close to the accident spot but saw many people getting rushed to the hospital on stretchers.

The flight was supposed to land at Aktau airport but crashed near a sea almost 30 km away from the airport. The accident could have been avoided if it had fallen into the sea. The plane fell 100 meters away from the sea. Locals say the pilot sought permission for an emergency landing but was delayed. There are very few Malayalis in Aktau. I rushed to the hospital later for blood donation. I am settled here with my family but they left for India during the pandemic.”