A heroic flight attendant on the plane that burst into flames during a dramatic emergency landing in Moscow grabbed passengers “by the collar” and pushed them out of the aircraft to safety, according to a new report.
Tatyana Kasatkina, 34, said, according to Lenta news agency, they had just seconds to escape the plane, she kicked open the door to the Aeroflot jet and physically pushed lingering passengers — who were delayed as others grabbed their bags from the overhead compartments — out onto the emergency slide.
“When the plane stopped, the evacuation immediately began,” she told the publication. “Everyone was shouting that we were on fire. But there was no fire inside the cabin at this moment.”
“People starting getting out of their seats and making for the exit while the jet was still travelling at high speed,” Ms Kasatkina said. “They were phoning relatives, screaming that the plane was burning and falling,” Lenta quoted her as saying.
She went on to say that as soon as the plane stopped she started evacuating passengers. “It all happened really fast, in a matter of seconds… I was pushing passengers out. I grabbed each one by the collar, so that they wouldn’t delay the evacuation.”
Even according to “Confessions Of A Trolley Dolley website”, the 34-year-old did everything she could to get passengers off the plane as quickly as possible. The website also said that Ms Kasatkina revealed that many passengers trying to escape the flames were slowed down by others stopping to grab their luggage.
The evacuation was “all so quick,” she recalled.
“The smoke was already black,” Kasatkina said. “The last people were crawling to get out.”
Via The Sun / New York Post
