Man’s final message to wife moments before crash that killed 38 on Azerbaijan Airlines jet

This is the heartbreaking moment a man sent a last message to his wife seconds before the Azerbaijan Airlines was reportedly shot down before a crash that killed 38. 

The passenger identified as Subkhon Rakhimov started filming a video for his wife as soon as he realised the plane was losing altitude, telling her that the plane tried to land several times, after which the people on board heard a loud bang.

His footage shows oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling and passengers can be heard crying and praying, with damage visible inside the cabin minutes before the plane crashed and broke apart in Kazakhstan, leaving 38 people dead. 

Rakhimov miraculously survived the crash and filmed another video as he walked around the plane wreckage, praising the flight attendant for helping the passengers survive. 

This comes as evidence is piling up that Russian air defences hit the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which was likely wrongly targeted as a suspected Ukrainian drone.

The apparent shrapnel damage to the aircraft – seen on the intact rear section of the doomed aircraft at Aktau in Kazakhstan – is consistent with such a strike. So are the accounts of surviving passengers who spoke of an explosion outside the plane.

At the time the plane had been seeking to land as scheduled in Grozny in Chechnya, a Russian region headed by close Vladimir Putin warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, which has been under regular attacks from Ukraine in recent weeks.

It is Kadyrov’s forces who are suspected of firing a Pantsir-S1 at the plane.

A partial text release of the alleged communications between the pilots and air traffic control indicates a catastrophic event which the crew assumed – it now appears wrongly – to be a collision with a flock of birds. 

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the air crash.

National flags were lowered across Azerbaijan this morning, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence for the victims of the horrifying crash.

Footage from the crash site shows rescuers looking for survivors inside the Azerbaijan airlines flight from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny, which crashed with 67 passengers and five crew members on board.

There was mayhem as rescuers went inside the severed rear of the aircraft, where several people can be seen lying on the ground. Astonishingly, some were found still alive.

One trapped woman shouted at rescuers: ‘Help me please!’. A firefighter asked her whether she needed help to get up, and she confirmed that she would need to be lifted out of the debris.

It is understood that at least 29 people reported to have survived the crash were found in the rear section of the aircraft, with the front being badly destroyed by fire. 

Latest figures indicate 22 of the 29 survivors are being treated in hospital, seven of whom are in serious condition. At least ten people dying after reportedly being thrown out of the cabin.

One terrifying video shows the moment the plane burst into flames and broke into several parts as it hit the ground, with thick black smoke rising up from the wrecked aircraft after. 

Later bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact. 

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the Embraer 190 had ‘made an emergency landing’ around three kilometres from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. 

‘A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,’ the Kazakh ministry said on Telegram. 

The Embraer E190AR with registration number 4K-AZ65 sent out a distress signal at an altitude of 2,125 feet over the Caspian Sea. 

Ahead of the crash, the crew had reported a strong impact on the hull. They assumed the aircraft hit a flock of birds but now it appears to have been the explosion of an oxygen tank to supply the cockpit in the event of depressurisation.

This supposed sudden depressurisation of the cylinder caused significant damage to the hull and its ‘scattering into fragments’.

Afterwards, people on board began to lose consciousness, according to a local media report.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. 

Dramatic new footage showed the pilot pulling the plane out of a steep fall as he sought to regain control, but the aircraft still suffered a catastrophic crash exploding in fire. The two main sites of the wreck at Aktau airport were hundreds of yards apart. 

Mangled human remains from the horror crash were strewn on rough ground at the airport.

Dazed and bloodied passengers are seen emerging from the severed rear of the plane. Some sat in shock on the ground after escaping from the aircraft. Others managed to walk clear.

Meanwhile, the front of the aircraft – torn asunder by the crash – could be seen ablaze in the distance.

Plane crash survivor Kristina Evstigneeva, 34, a travel agent from Vladivostok, was in a serious condition and had to undergo brain surgery after the plane crash in Kazakhstan.

Another survivor Zaur Mamedov, 36, was returning from his father’s funeral in Baku.

The plane attempted to land at Aktau in western Kazakhstan after being rerouted from Grozny and another Russian city Makhachkala due to fog. 

Two of the 29 survivors are children, believed to be girls aged 11 and 16.

‘They are receiving all the necessary medical care in hospitals in the region,’ said the Ministry of Health. ’23 ambulance teams were mobilised to the scene of the incident.’ 

Unconfirmed reports said that both pilots died in the crash, and from the crew only a female flight attendant survived. 

Tengrinews reported 37 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, six of Kazakhstan and three of Kyrgyzstan were on board the stricken plane. 

Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to Aliyev over the loss of life, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

‘Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St Petersburg (where he had a summit). Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,’ Peskov said.

‘We deeply sympathise with those who lost their relatives and friends in this plane crash and wish a speedy recovery to all those who managed to survive.’

Aktau residents have been asked to donate blood for the survivors. 

Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.

Kazakhstan would cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, the government said.

Grozny – the destination – is the capital of the Chechnya republic, a Russian region controlled by Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov which regularly sends troops to fight in the war against Ukraine.