Half of the passengers of the plane that broke in two dramatically survived... "A flock of birds? A drone? Investigating"

[Anchor]
On Christmas Day, yesterday (25th), an Azerbaijani plane crashed in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, but nearly half of the passengers survived dramatically.

It was reported to have collided with a flock of birds in the early stages of the accident, and authorities involved said they would thoroughly investigate all possibilities.

Reporter Jeong Yu-shin's report.

[Reporter]
An airliner attempting to make an emergency landing lowers its altitude and collides with the ground.

The fuselage then explodes and is engulfed in flames and smoke.

However, rescue teams arrive immediately after the crash, and the surviving passengers are rescued one by one.

You can also see passengers walking themselves out of the back of the fuselage that didn't explode.

[Kazakhstan's local rescue team: Let's take the female passenger over there, be careful! (It hurts!) Be careful with your legs!]

On Christmas morning local time, an Azerbaijani airliner crashed near the city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan.

I was on my way to the Russian Republic of Chechnya from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.More than 30 of the 67 people aboard

were killed in the accident, but 29 survived, Kazakh authorities say.

It is extremely rare that nearly half of the aircraft accidents in which the fuselage exploded have survived.

Local media said the rear of the fuselage remained intact as it crashed on a wide beach, leaving many passengers behind alive.

It was also thanks to the rapid mobilization of helicopters to extinguish the fire and prevent further explosions.

The cause of the crash is not yet known.

Russian aviation authorities say thick fog caused the plane to reroute and later crash into a flock of birds, causing an emergency.

However, Reuters and other foreign media pointed out that it was questionable to go all the way to Kazakhstan, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, without landing at a nearby airport.

In particular, foreign media reported that there was a drone attack in southern Russia on the day of the accident and that a nearby airport was closed.

[Kenan Jaynalov, Azerbaijani Press Prosecutor: Working with Kazakh prosecutors to investigate all possibilities. I can't come to a conclusion yet.]

The Azerbaijani president, who returned home after hearing of the disaster, called for a thorough investigation, saying it was too early to discuss the cause of the crash.

Russian President Putin also sent a rescue plane to the scene of the accident, expressing his condolences to the victims.

This is YTN Jeong Yu-shin.



video editing; Han Kyung-hee

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