An Emirates plane which took off from India’s Thiruvananthapuram crash-landed in Dubai; all passengers safe
An Emirates airline flight from India has crash-landed at Dubai International Airport, the Dubai government media office says.
Images posted online show thick black smoke coming from the plane.
The Dubai government media office said on its Twitter account that all passengers were evacuated safely and no injuries have been reported so far.
The Boeing 777 was reportedly flying from the Indian city of Trivandrum to Dubai.
It landed on its tail at around 12.45 pm local time. Its right wing caught fire and a part of the engine appeared to have fallen off.
All passengers of flight EK 521 were evacuated safely through emergency exits before the fire spread, said officials.
“There were 282 passengers and 18 crew on the flight. Our priority remains with the passengers and crew involved. We are expecting a 4-hour network wide delay,” Emirates said in a statement.
The live air traffic monitor Flightradar24 said takeoffs and landings at Dubai had been suspended because of the incident.
It said the plane involved was a Boeing 777-300 A6-EMW, and the flight involved was EK521 coming from Thiruvananthapuram, also known as Trivandrum.
“In no time the cabin was filled with smoke. There was no announcement. The emergency door was forced open,” a passenger was quoted as telling a TV channel.
An Indian reporter based in Dubai said some passengers are injured. “But it is not necessarily serious,” he clarified.
A pilot who witnessed the incident told NDTV that he saw the plane coming in fast and hit the runway tail first.
“We saw big flames, then the body hit the runway and the right landing gear collapsed, followed by the right engine coming off. Then it skidded for a while until it stopped,” the pilot said.
Flights from Dubai have been delayed and others scheduled to fly in have been diverted to Sharjah.
The aircraft involved in the accident was delivered in March 2003.
Source: Ittefaq
