Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Passengers and crew sprint down the runway just minutes before their Emirates jet explodes after crash-landing

Dramatic footage has emerged of three hundred passengers and crew fleeing for their lives down a runway just minutes before their Emirates jet exploded after crash-landing at Dubai airport.

All of those on board, including 24 Britons and six Americans, were led to safety at Dubai International Airport, minutes before the Boeing 777 was completely destroyed in a massive fireball.

Video shows them sprinting to the safety of a hangar as thick black smoke billows up from the stricken aircraft.

 
The pilot told terrified passengers that there was a problem with the landing gear as the plane, flying from Trivandrum International Airport in India, was nearing Dubai.

Witnesses say they saw smoke coming from the plane before it touched down while one expert has suggested the extreme 50C weather today may have been a factor in the crash.

Dramatic footage shows the aircraft exploding in a fireball on the runway, with the force of the blast throwing a huge panel from the plane into the air. Separate video captures the moment it scrapes along the runway before coming to a halt in a cloud of smoke.

Incredibly, all on board, including the 18 crew, escaped through emergency exits as the cabin filled with smoke and were able to sprint to safety minutes before the plane exploded into flames.
assengers have revealed how the flight came down suddenly before bouncing upwards on landing.

One told Asianet: 'In no time the cabin was filled with smoke. There was no announcement. The emergency door was forced open. We believe all the passengers and crew have escaped. Many of us now feel we have breathing problems because of the smoke.'

Photographs of the incident showed a plane lying crumpled on its belly on the tarmac with black smoke pouring from its upper section while more video shows passengers running to safety at the terminal having been evacuated.

The captain is believed to have sent out and emergency signal in the moments before the plane was preparing to land.
A pilot who witnessed flight EK521 landing told NDTV the plane came in 'really hard' and hit the 'runway tail'. A passenger on another plane said she could see emergency chutes deployed.
All flights to the Dubai terminal have been diverted while emergency crews work at the scene. All take-offs and landings have been suspended with flights due to resume at 3.30pm UK time.

Passengers evacuated from the plane say that minutes before the flight crash-landed at Dubai airport, the pilot made an announcement that he needed to make an emergency landing amid problems with the landing gear.

Cabin crew then opened all the emergency exits of the plane and all 300 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were evacuated 'within minutes of the landing'.

Shaji Kochikutty, who was flying with his wife and three daughters, told Xpress: 'It was a near disaster. God is great. He saved my family and we are grateful to be alive. What more can we ask for?'

'They [the crew] opened all emergency exits and guided us out. 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.
03/08/16 Julian Robinson and Isabel Hunter and Jennifer Newton/ Mail Online
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