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A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in
Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a
“gaping hole” in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.
Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo jet,
which had taken off from London and stopped in Hong Kong, plunged
6,000 meters (about 20,000 feet) in what one said was an
“absolutely terrifying” ordeal.
An urgent investigation is underway into what
punched a hole of about three meters in diameter into the fuselage
near the right wing.
A Qantas spokesman said the plane, carrying 346
passengers and 19 crew, was now undergoing an inspection on the
ground in Manila, where luggage could be clearly seen jutting out of
the hole.
“There was a terrific boom, and bits of wood
and debris just flew forward into first [class] and the oxygen masks
dropped down,” June Kane, a passenger from Melbourne, told the
Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We were told that one of the rear doors, a
hole had blown into it, but I’ve since looked at the plane and
there’s a gigantic gaping hole in the plane.”
“It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to
say everyone was very calm,” she added, speaking from Manila.
Qantas Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon said
initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its
fuselage, and it was being inspected by engineers.
He said the flight crew performed emergency
procedures after oxygen masks were deployed and there were no
reports of any injuries.
In a statement, the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau said the plane had been flying at 29,000 feet when the crew
were forced into an emergency descent after a section of the
fuselage separated and resulted in rapid decompression of the cabin.
It said the crew descended the aircraft to
10,000 feet “in accordance with established procedures” and
diverted the plane safely to Manila.
The Bureau said it was sending four
investigators to Manila to assist local authorities with the
investigation.
Qantas flight QF30, which took off from Hong
Kong at 9 a.m. (same time in Manila), had been due to arrive in
Melbourne at 1145 GMT (7:45 p.m. local time), according to the
Qantas website.
Passenger June Kane said the problem had
appeared to center on the baggage compartment of the plane.
“I’m looking at the plane now and just
forward of the wing, there’s a gaping hole from the wing to the
underbody,” she said.
“It’s about two meters by four meters, and
there’s baggage hanging out so you assume that there’s a few
bags that may have gone missing.”
Passengers praised the crew for landing the
plane safely.
“We heard a very large bang, the oxygen masks
came out. But the crew was very calm and everything was fine,”
said Phil Rescall, a 40-year-old man from England traveling to
Australia for work.
“The shock came when many got off the plane
and saw the hole,” he told Agence France-Presse. “You see the
hole and you realize we were very lucky.
“Some people were crying, some people were
pretty shaken when they saw the hole.”
“The crew were terrific, they did a great
job,” another passenger, Brendan McClements, said. “Everyone
gave them a round of applause as we landed.”
Qantas said the 747-400 was not the one that was
used to fly Pope Benedict XVI out of Australia earlier this month
after his visit to Sydney.
-- AFP
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