Harrowing footage shows passengers moments before fireball plane crash in Kazakhstan as jet ‘likely shot down by Russia’
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HARROWING footage showed the passengers onboard the doomed Azerbaijan Airlines flight just moments before it crashed - killing 38 people. Twenty-nine people including three children miraculously survived the tragic Christmas Day crash after Flight J2-8243 carrying 67 people hit the ground near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
![[Footage shows the inside of the plane just moments before the deadly crash]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/c86a1ea0-4ce6-4f47-8d7b-89e582800922.jpg?strip=all&w=810)
Previous footage showed the Embraer aircraft nosediving before smashing into the ground after reportedly colliding with a flock of birds. The plane had been en route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia but was rerouted due to bad weather conditions.
![[As the oxygen masks dangled in the air, some passengers started to scream in horror]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2713a5cb-5bd4-45ee-8a24-3a89836a7555.jpg?strip=all&w=810)
However, several aviation experts speculate that the plane may been shot down by the Russian anti-missile defence systems. Heartbreaking footage has now emerged showing terrified passengers making final video calls and leaving messages as the aircraft began to plunge.
![[A terrified passenger is rescued from the crashed plane]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image_d15440.png?strip=all&w=620)
Distressed people on board can be seen jumping out of their seats as they try to make sense of the situation. As the oxygen masks dangled in the air, some passengers started to scream in horror, while others called their loved ones and began praying to god.
Meanwhile, another footage shows the survivors of the plane crash coming out of the wreckage as emergency rescuers rushed to the scene. Injured passengers can be seen stumbling as they get out of the mangled aircraft. Around 150 emergency responders rushed to the scene, battling towering flames and thick plumes of black smoke rising ominously into the sky.
![[Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/emergency-specialists-work-crash-site-959798366.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
