[ad_1]
“I flew from Athens. We did not expect anything. Everything was fine. We did not know anything until the plane began to fly as if it were rotating around its axis. It was around fifteen at the beginning when it started spinning. It was weird. I have flown many times, it has not been like that.
Then it seems that we started to land, and the crew announced that we would land in Minsk, and that the pilot would clarify (the information) in a short time, ”said the passenger.
The woman said that there was a commotion then, people began to discuss the situation, so they did not listen very well to what the pilot was saying.
“It seems he said that we are leaving Minsk not because of some problems with the plane, but because of some technical problems at the Vilnius airport.” At least that’s what I understood. But maybe I just heard that. I’m not one hundred percent sure he said that because he didn’t hear much, “said the passenger.
The woman said that the landing in Minsk was very unpleasant.
“It just came to our attention then. Then we were greeted by five or six fire brigades, an ambulance, cars from some other institutions and maybe 30-40 officers, airport employees, people in different uniforms,” said the passenger.
He said that at that time they didn’t understand anything at all.
“It just came to our attention then. Only that guy who then disappeared started to panic. But since there was a landing, I sat further away from him, and heard from others that he was talking to the crew. But I didn’t even see him. I heard it, “said the woman.
He said what the verification procedures were like
After landing and waiting a while, according to the interlocutor, the four people began to be released from the plane through the front and rear entrances.
“Four people were released from each side. It was necessary to put things on the ground. Then he went through things with the dog and had to get on the bus. I came out practically last, leaving only a few people behind me. Then we took that one. bus to the terminal ”, says the woman.
She said that when they reached the deadline, they found themselves in a hallway that might have looked like a tunnel to some, and they stood in line there while passenger registration was taking place.
“He checked passports, things. From the way I felt, it didn’t take me long, it took me about half an hour and an hour was all. We checked in and they took us to the waiting room, ”said the woman.
She said Belarusian officials treated her politely.
“It just came to our knowledge then.” It was not for me to cause any fear, “he said.
At first I did not understand why I was interviewing that young man
The woman said that although she was sitting not far from the later arrested Belarusian opposition leader Raman Pratasevic, she was not widely remembered.
“I was very focused on the flight itself because I was afraid of flying. I saw him the most when we were on the bus when he was questioned a bit by the bus. But we really didn’t get it. We didn’t even know who it was. We think maybe he said some unauthorized word or had something with him. This is how we argued among the people in the group I was in, ”said the interlocutor.
The woman said that she had already heard from other Lithuanians that she had removed her protective mask and said: “Pay attention to my face, because I am facing the death penalty. You’ll hear more about me ”, or something like that.
“It just came to our knowledge then. Because no one told me that, they told other Lithuanians, and they told me. And then he and his friend passed by us,” said the interlocutor.
Caught in a feeling of uncertainty
The woman said that even though they were already in the waiting room, they weren’t sure how long it would all take and what happened, if the plane broke down or something else happened, if they would have to stay there overnight.
“It just came to our knowledge then. People started reading articles. There were three versions. One version was that there were some conflicts between the crew and the passengers. It really wasn’t.
The other version was that, at least for me, as I was told, there was a Cichanouskaya advisor here. Nobody knew yet if he was a journalist or what, everything was at the level of rumors.
The third version was that the plane was mined. But we didn’t know anything. The crew was with us at the beginning, then they took them somewhere ”, said the interlocutor.
The woman said there was a commotion in the waiting room, but said she didn’t notice someone was panicking.
“I saw the children running, playing. For me and those around me there was not much fear. At least I didn’t feel it, “he said.
The passenger could not see with his own eyes the fighter escorting the plane through the window. He only heard from others that someone had seen it.
The return flight took a while
Finally, the woman noticed a queue beginning to form.
“I was practically the last to leave the waiting room. And we got on the bus and on the plane. Then on the plane, maybe around 1.20. He held us up because we still couldn’t get up for some reason. We keep driving, stopping. We drive again, we stop again, and we don’t understand why this is happening. Some people asked for baths.
It was announced that we would fly for 30 minutes, but that time lasted maybe two hours in total. It was a long time before we could take off, ”said the passenger.
The woman recalled that Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė boarded the plane after landing.
“At first someone says: ‘Minister Šimonytė’. We thought maybe he was joking here. But he really was. Then he gave a speech. The official then said that some people would have to take a separate bus to go to the polls”, He said.
The interlocutor also recalled that everyone applauded when the plane landed in Vilnius.
“Someone said, ‘I didn’t applaud in my life. I applaud for the first time, but there is a reason, ”said the woman.
The plane seemed empty than before
The woman recalled that on a flight from Minsk, she noticed that the plane was emptier.
“It just came to our knowledge then. We thought that perhaps the citizens of Belarus could have been released. But then we talked to other Belarusians that they had asked to travel to Grodno through Belarusian territory on Belarusian passports, and they did not release them. We were not released. we realized that, it really seems that the number of people has decreased, “said the passenger.
He could only confirm that R. Pratasevičius was no longer from Minsk to Vilnius.
“It just came to our attention then. There was just a rumor that … Lithuania hopes that it will also be allowed to fly with us, and we are waiting for it. But it did not fly with us,” the woman said.
So far i haven’t slept
The interlocutor was also reminded that the flight to Lithuania turned out to be very slow.
“It looked like we were flying, not flying. It seems to have taken time, ”he said.
On Monday afternoon, while talking to Delphi, the woman said she hadn’t slept yet.
“Yesterday it seemed like there was no such stress, and today a very unpleasant feeling is coming. Maybe because I read it, I read the article so that I would have thrown it down, that is not how the feeling has come today ”, said the woman.
The plane is upside down
On Sunday, a Ryanair passenger plane flying from Athens to Vilnius was forcibly overturned at the border with Lithuania and landed in the Belarusian capital.
According to Asta Skaisgirytė, Senior Advisor to the President of Lithuania on Foreign Policy, two Belarusian military aircraft were used for this purpose: a MiG-29 fighter plane and a Mi-24 helicopter.
The Belarusian opposition says it was done to arrest Raman Pratasevic, an opposition activist and Belarusian blogger who founded the plane, the founder of the Nexta news channel.
It is strictly forbidden to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any way without consent, and if consent has been obtained, it is necessary to indicate DELFI as the source.
[ad_2]
