Hero flight attendant says she kicked the plane door open and pushed passengers down the emergency slide to prevent further casualties in the Aeroflot inferno

Photo by Xinhua/Sergei via Getty Images

• A flight attendant says she kicked a plane door open and shoved passengers down the emergency slide to prevent them from dying in Sunday’s Aeroflot inferno.
• The disaster cost 41 lives, according to Russian investigators.
• But one 34-year-old member of the cabin crew, Tatyana Kasatkina, appeared to save lives thanks to quick thinking.
• "Everyone was shouting that we were on fire," she said.
• "Just to hurry them up I grabbed each of them by the collar from the back" before shoving them to safety, Kasatkina added.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A hero member of the cabin crew on board the Russian plane that burst into flames during a hard landing on Sunday has described physically shoving passengers out of the aircraft to save their lives.

The flight attendant Tatyana Kasatkina, 34, said she kicked the plane’s door open and pushed passengers onto the emergency slide at the front of the aircraft.

Forty-one people died after the plane slammed into the tarmac at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday night.

"When the plane stopped, the evacuation immediately began," Kasatkina said.

Read more: 41 people dead after an Aeroflot plane burst into flames during an emergency landing at a major Moscow airport

"Everyone was shouting that we were on fire. But there was no fire inside the cabin at this moment.

"I kicked the door out with my leg and pushed out the passengers so as not to slow the evacuation.

"Just to hurry them up I grabbed each of them by the collar from the back."

"It was all so quick.  The smoke was already black.  The last people were crawling to get out.

"Everyone had jumped from their seats and moved forwards, although the plane was still moving at a good speed.

"I saw the first woman calling somebody on her phone and saying, ‘We are on fire, we are falling down.’"

Photo by Sergei Fadeichev\TASS via Getty Images

Another flight attendant, Maxim Moiseev, was reported to have died in the flames as he tried to open a door at the rear of the plane.  

Russian officials said Monday that both flight recorders were recovered from the plane.

NOW WATCH: Astronomers just captured the first image of a black hole. Here are the horrifying things that would happen if you fell into one.

See Also:

• Emilia Clarke said that filming ‘Game of Thrones’ sex scenes was awkward because her brother is a cameraman on the show
• There’s new evidence to suggest drinking diet soda actually makes you eat more
• Drake thanked his mom for giving him rides to ‘Degrassi’ during his Billboard Awards speech, and fans melted

Source: Business Insider –