Lightning struck the plane 10 minutes after take-off, Tatyana Kasatkina revealed in an interview to local media just hours after she survived the emergency landing. “There was strong hail, a noise was heard outside, then a bang occurred,” she said, adding that a flash and black smoke could be seen.

The pilot announced that the plane was returning to the airport right away, she said, but indicated that communication was severely impaired. The plane’s light signaling was also out of order.

Kasatkina said passengers were gripped by panic as they began to jump off their seats while the plane was still traveling at high speed.

I saw a woman talking on the phone saying, “We’re on fire, we’re going down” as she was standing in the aisle.

Panic intensified as the plane stopped, but there was no fire inside the cabin, the stewardess said. Some passengers noticed the cabin windows were melting, she recalled. 

As the evacuation started, she had to kick people off the plane in order to keep them moving.

When the plane stopped, the evacuation began right away. I did not see [the passengers] anymore, I was just kicking them out the door, so that they didn’t get jammed … Just was grabbing each one by the collar.

A total of 41 people died in the tragedy including steward Maxim Moiseev, officials have confirmed. Moiseev died as he was trying to open the rear door of the aircraft to speed up the evacuation as fire engulfed the back of the plane, a source told TASS news agency.