The escalator incident at Koltsovo airport sparked widespread panic, followed by reports from a passenger claiming gunfire. Elena, a resident of Yekaterinburg who was at the airport with her husband during the emergency, shared her account with socialbites.ca.
“My husband and I had just arrived from Dubai. He went to retrieve the car from the parking area, while I waited with our belongings. Everything seemed calm at first, then a sudden wave of fear overtook families, tourists, and small children—perhaps ten people—who scattered in different directions. A bystander asked what everyone running was reacting to, and a young woman shouted, ‘Run, they’re shooting.’ I didn’t have time to process what was happening. I bolted out onto the street with the rest of the crowd. There wasn’t a crush at the exit because the main bottleneck developed where people were fleeing from. The scene was chaotic and stressful, with people moving in various directions. I hurried to the arrivals area where the families gather and called my husband to urge him to hurry, because it seemed there might be danger inside,” Elena recalled.
He later learned from those who hurried outside that panic began among passengers as they descended the escalator: some heard an explosion and cried that shots were being fired.
“People said they ran from the second floor of the escalator. At first, their words suggested this occurred near the security checkpoint in the departure zone. I spoke with a nearby family to confirm what they heard. They described an explosion on the escalator, someone falling, and then a shouted warning about gunfire. I did not hear about a bomb from anyone nearby, though some media reports suggested such an event. My family, however, told me there was gunfire, and I heard those words myself. The incident seemed to unfold near the exit of the international terminal,” Elena explained.
She added that despite the emergency situation, airport operations continued as usual, with departures and arrivals proceeding and flights moving in and out on schedule.
“Departures and arrivals were announced as normal; people walked through the check-in area for domestic flights, there was no crowding or panic. I also observed travelers in the arrivals area for international flights standing calmly. These observations came just moments after we had exhausted ourselves,” Elena noted.
In the morning reports from August 6, some media outlets cited eyewitnesses who claimed that explosions were heard at Koltsovo, followed by a passenger’s scream about gunfire, which triggered panic. The airport’s press service did not confirm the shooting reports.
“One passenger triggered a panic in the border control area, a process that requires time and caused people to become stuck and move irregularly through passport and customs checks. The airport stated that two people were injured during the incident and were promptly assisted by the health center staff.
The press service explained that the disruption occurred because several flights from foreign destinations arrived almost simultaneously, forcing the airport to manage a sudden surge in traffic.
The incident prompted an official response from police and the Ural Transportation Prosecutor’s Office, which opened an investigation into the events.
Earlier, a flight to Yekaterinburg landed with an engine fault, which also affected operations at the airport.