Horror In Makhachkala: Passengers From Tel Aviv Recount Their Experiences

• 31.10.2023, 12:16

Passengers could barely be saved from the rampaging crowd.

On 29 October, the world witnessed at Makhachkala airport what seemed to be left over from the days of Nazi Germany - a Jewish pogrom. An angry crowd of rioters broke into the terminal and onto the airfield, looking for passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv. The "Defenders of the Children of Gaza" broke into every room and besieged passengers on other planes - commanders shut the doors for fear of being, as one Pobeda Airlines pilot put it, "crushed".

Police officers tried to hold back the crowd, but were unsuccessful. The Rosgvardiya riot police did not arrive for more than an hour. With great difficulty, the passengers were rescued from the rioting crowd. They were evacuated by helicopter.

"Details spoke to A. - a passenger from Tel Aviv. Together with her son, she found herself in the middle of the angry rioters. The woman and the child were injured by broken glass. Another passenger, N., had come from Israel with her parents and sister.

They helped give the picture of their rescue.

Н. - is a student in an Israeli medical programme. Her parents live in Akko and have dual citizenship - Israeli and Russian. N. herself has not yet obtained Israeli citizenship. N. flew to Russia with her parents and sister not because of the war, but for family reasons. The girl will return to Israel in a week.

"In Tel Aviv there was a slight delay in the departure of the flight. We were told that the plane did not have permission to land in Makhachkala," she recalls.

"The stewardess said: 'If you want, you can refuse the flight. The passengers asked her, 'Is it not safe? She told us, 'It will be safer than in Israel'," N recalls.

It was not true.

Landing in the Apocalypse

The flight from Tel Aviv landed at Makhachkala airport at 19:17. Unfortunately, it was not diverted to another airport as reported.

There were about 50 passengers on board, mostly women and children. One child was in a wheelchair and on a respirator. He also had to hide, confirmed the airport's general director, Said Ramazanov.

N. confirms: "The plane was half empty and the cabin was mostly filled with women and children. The disabled boy's family was also carrying his little sister.