‘I felt my bones burst’: Airport worker opens up about the terrifying moment he was mowed down by a 78-tonne Airbus – and tells his tale of survival

This is the gruesome moment a 78-tonne Airbus airliner mowed down an airport technician.

Rail Khasanov said he felt his ‘bones burst’ as the wheels of the huge aircraft rolled over and crushed his legs at Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The 22-year-old suffered life-changing injuries in the horrifying incident and had to have his right leg amputated at the hip. 

CCTV footage captured the moment the Airbus 320 rolled over Rail as he was preparing the Ural Airlines plane for take off.

He was trapped under the wheel for seven minutes but managed to message his mother on social media to tell her: ‘Mum, I was hit by a plane.’

The 22-year-old suffered life-changing injuries in the horrifying incident and had to have his right leg amputated at the hip

Rail passed out in an ambulance as he was being rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma. 

He is now undergoing rehab at the Irina Volkova Clinic and said: ‘I remember everything perfectly.

‘A huge wheel drove along my leg and stopped. In the first few seconds, I thought it was a nightmare but I couldn’t wake up.

‘I didn’t feel any pain at first because of the shock but then I felt my bones burst.’

He added: ‘The paramedics arrived and they called an ambulance.

‘I was fully conscious while I was lying under the plane for seven minutes, and I managed to write to my mother, ‘Mum, I was hit by a plane’.

‘Then I wanted to sleep. I was so thirsty because of the blood loss. In the ambulance, I managed to say what happened and then I passed out.’

He placed in a coma and regained consciousness five days later in intensive care after surgeons had performed an emergency amputation.

He joked: ‘I woke up and looked around and it didn’t look like heaven. I could see I was in intensive care with my mother next to my bed. I had no panic.

He is now undergoing rehab at the Irina Volkova Clinic and said: ‘I didn’t feel any pain at first because of the shock but then I felt my bones burst’

Rail is still an employee of Ural Airlines and is preparing to be fitted with a prosthetic leg and expects to return to work – but not preparing planes for take off

‘I had known even while I was under the plane that my leg didn’t have a hope.

‘But I was alive chatting, talking.’

Investigators later blamed the aircraft commander for the injury and ordered him to pay Rail compensation.

Rail signed a pre-trial agreement with the pilot to receive £16,000.

He said: ‘What else could I do? He has a family, children, a mortgage, a loan, a friend.

‘Who needs a man to be sentenced for a crime and then not be able to fly and work? All their lives would be ruined.’

Rail is still an employee of Ural Airlines and is preparing to be fitted with a prosthetic leg and expects to return to work – but not preparing planes for take off.

He said: ‘It’s sometimes hard enough on two legs. The company has promised they will find a job for me.

‘I know I’ll have to learn something new.’