Yahoo – AFP, Ali Khalil with Karim Abou Merhi, August 3, 2016
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| The Emirates airliner burst into flames following the crash-landing at Dubai airport on August 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ahmed Ramzan) |
Dubai (AFP)
- Hundreds of passengers fled an Emirates airliner that crash-landed and caught
fire in Dubai Wednesday, resulting in the death of a firefighter and a
four-hour shutdown of the busy airport but no other fatalities.
The exact
circumstances of the accident involving a Boeing 777 flying from India with 300
people on board were not immediately clear.
Footage on
social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the aircraft on the
ground.
Emirates
chief executive officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum spoke of an
"operational incident" that happened on landing and ruled out any
"security issue".
The fire
erupted on board the aircraft after the incident, he said, adding that the
cause was not yet clear.
Emirates
said that all passengers and crew on board flight EK521 from Thiruvananthapuram
to Dubai were accounted for and safe.
Sheikh
Ahmed later told reporters later that 13 people on board were hospitalised,
most of them for minor injuries.
The
director general of the General Civil Aviation Authority, Saif al-Suwaidi, said
in a statement that "one of the firefighters lost his life while saving
the lives of the others."
Investigators
had been sent to work with Emirates and the Dubai airport authorities, he said.
Emirates
said that there were 282 passengers and 18 crew members on board, including 226
Indians, 24 Britons and 11 Emirati nationals.
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The
Emirates Boeing 777 was carrying 282 passengers and 18 crew
members (AFP
Photo/Warwan Naamani)
|
Sheikh
Ahmed said that the pilot was an Emirati with more than 7,000 hours of flight
time and the aircraft had "all necessary inspection checks" before
take-off.
Footage on
social media showed thick black smoke coming out of the centre of the plane
while the fuselage appeared to be lying on the runway with escape slides
opened.
'I ran
without my shoes'
Shaji
Kochikutty, who was on board the plane with his wife and three daughters,
recounted surviving the "near disaster."
"We
are grateful to be alive. What more can we ask for?" the Dubai-based
businessman said, speaking to weekly newspaper XPRESS.
After the
plane caught fire on landing, airline staff "opened all emergency exits
and guided us out," Kochikutty said.
"I
first sent my three daughters. My wife went next but hurt her knee while
jumping out. I bruised my feet as I ran without my shoes. We were promptly
given first aid and we are all fine now," he said.
The
accident comes almost four months after a plane belonging to Dubai's other
carrier, flydubai, crashed and burst into flames as it was landing in
Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, killing all 61 people onboard.
On July 26,
an Emirates Boeing 777-300 aircraft heading to the Maldives made an emergency
landing in Mumbai because of a "technical fault".
Airport
authorities halted all operations at Dubai International Airport for around
four hours Wednesday, causing delays and diversions.
 |
Anxious
passengers and relatives wait for news at Thiruvananthapuram
airport after
hearing that Emirates flight EK521 had crash-landed at Dubai
airport on August
3, 2016 (AFP Photo)
|
Arriving
planes were diverted to other airports in the UAE, Oman, and Bahrain, Emirates
said.
Despite
later resuming operations, Dubai International said its capacity was still
restricted and it was operating with one runway.
It is the
world's largest air hub in terms of international passengers, and is the base
for Emirates, from where it serves more than 153 destinations.
Dubai
opened a smaller second airport, Al-Maktoum International, in 2013.
Emirates,
Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi's Etihad have seized a significant portion of
transcontinental travel, capitalising on the geographic locations of their Gulf
hubs.
Emirates is
the largest single operator of the Boeing 777, as well as the Airbus A380
superjumbo, and expanded its fleet to 250 aircraft last year.
