"Someone dragged me to the emergency exit door and threw me out before I realized what was going on."

At eight years old, Ji Yifan apparently knows little of how narrowly he has escaped death.

Ji is among 54 survivors from the Brazilian-made Embraer E-190 jet that crashed upon landing in Yichun, a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Tuesday night.

At least 42 people died in the crash.

The evacuation slide, which was also on fire, broke just as Ji was sliding down. "I fell to the ground. Again someone dragged me aside," he said in his hospital bed, bandaged on his right cheek and with bruises on his face, neck and arms.

A man who was slightly injured in the head remembered strong turbulence after the crew announced it was about to land.

"There were four or five bad turbulence and luggage in the overhead bin were raining down," he said. "Everyone panicked. Those sitting in the back began rushing to the front of the cabin."

"There was smog, which I knew was toxic. I held my breath and ran on until I saw a burning hole on one side of the cabin. I crawled out and ran at least 100 meters to ensure I was safe."

Altogether 96 people -- including five crew members -- boarded the plane, sources with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said. Five of the passengers were children.

The captain, Qi Quanjun, survived with serious injuries.

Lying on a hospital bed with a bandaged face and tubes tucked around his body, Qi was unable to talk sense when Xinhua reporters met him in the city hospital Wednesday morning.

He said he couldn't remember anything when asked weather he had made an emergency landing.