The Globe and Mail, SINGAPORE—The Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2010 11:20PM EDT
A Qantasjetliner with 459 people aboard made an emergency landing Thursday in Singaporeafter one of its four engines shut down over western Indonesia and followingwitness reports of a blast that sent debris hurtling to the ground.
Theairliner denied there had been any explosion, and said the plane landed safelywith no injuries. Qantas had no immediate comment on whether the enginetroubles were related to eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi over the past 10days.
Given thetiming of the malfunction, 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore, and theairliner's flight path, there appeared to be no connection.
A Qantasstatement said the double-decker A380 plane experienced an “engine issue” soonafter taking off from Singapore for Sydney. It made a safe emergency landing inSingapore at 11:45 a.m. local time with 433 passengers and 26 crew on board,the statement said.
“Some mediareports suggested the aircraft had crashed. These reports are incorrect. NoQantas aircraft has crashed,” it said.
Qantasspokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney, Australia, said there were no reports ofinjuries or an explosion on board. When asked if the engine trouble was relatedto ash hurled from Merapi, Ms. Kearns said she had no further details.
A series ofpowerful eruptions from Indonesia's most volatile volcano, which was spewingmassive clouds of gray ash 1,400 kilometres west of Batam, earlier promptedofficials to close some air routes above the mountain.
“We have noway of knowing what at this point caused the problem,” said Tatang Kurniadi,the chief of The National Transportation Safety Committee, when asked if therewere fears volcanic ash clogged the Qantas airliner's engine.
Witnesseson the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, reported hearing alarge blast and seeing pieces of debris – including panels painted white andred – falling onto houses and a nearby shopping mall.
Pictures ofmetal, some the size of a door, were shown on Indonesia's MetroTV broadcaster,with people milling around.
“I heard abig explosion at around 9:15 a.m. and saw a commercial passenger plane flyinglow in the distance with smoke on one of its wings,” Rusdi, a local resident,told MetroTV.
“The debrisstarted falling on my house.”
A BritishAirways flight suffered engine failure in 1982 after it had flown into avolcanic cloud in western Sumatra and was forced to make an emergency landingat Jakarta.
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