"I saw with my own eyes how the Almighty protected us," Nurullah Sirajov, a survivor of the plane crash near Aktau city in Kazakhstan, said in a video interview with Report.
He noted that during the plane crash, he remained clear-minded and witnessed everything that happened.
"My wife and I were flying to visit our son who lives in Grozny. When the plane was first attacked, I felt flames under my feet and thought I was wounded. I tried to calm my wife, but I couldn't shake off my anxiety. I unbuckled my seatbelt, looked under my feet - nothing was there, the plane's floor was fine. Just as I leaned back in my seat, an even stronger impact hit the rear of the plane. The flight attendants tried to calm the passengers and announced we were landing in Grozny. The plane was descending... I could see we were arriving, I could see the airport building, runways, and planes through the window. Imagine looking down from a 10-story building. We were so close to the ground and were sure we were landing there," Sirajov recounts.
He noted that at this moment the plane unexpectedly gained speed and took off.
"At this point, the flight attendant recommended folding all soft items and pressing our foreheads against the seat with closed eyes. I had a thick jacket, I folded it and gave it to my wife, told her not to move until the end, as per instructions. I didn't even think about being afraid, I was only thinking about my wife. And then I felt the plane crash into the ground with a terrible impact and sound. I thought it must have shattered into pieces," noted the incident witness.