“Emirates can confirm that today, 3 August 2016, flight EK521 traveling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India to Dubai has been involved in an accident at Dubai International Airport”, the airline said in a statement.
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The Emirates airline Boing 777 which crash-landed in Dubai had 282 passengers and 18 crew members on board.
The Emirates chairman told a press conference that evacuation procedures were executed professionally and the cabin crew were last to leave the plane.
Dubai-based Emirates, the Mideast’s biggest airline, said the accident happened at 12:45 p.m. local time as Flight EK521 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. “About 30 seconds after we jumped out through the emergency escape, a blast occurred and the plane caught fire”, another flier said.
According to the airline, 20 nationalities were represented among the flight’s passengers and crew – 226 Indian nationals, 24 Brits, 11 Emiratis, six US citizens and six Saudis.
Six other flights were cancelled from outstation airports while four others were returned to their departure airports.
Video posted on social media and released by Reuters show the Boeing 777 on its belly on the runway with black smoke rising from its right side. “Many of us now feel we have breathing problems because of the smoke”, said the passenger.
“All the people were shouting, all the children, all the women”, said Arun Krishna, a passenger from India.
Passenger Alby Wilson, who was waiting in the airport lounge, told Sky News: “There was a loud noise outside”.
Emirates has announced that there would be no fee for cancellation or re-booking of flights due to the incident.
According to Quest, Dubai-based Emirates is the largest airline in the world by available seat kilometers, while Dubai (DBX) is now the busiest global airport for worldwide passengers.
Emirates, which began operations in 1985, has never suffered a fatal accident.
Emirates said that its main priority remains with those involved and offering support to concerned family and friends. “All passengers and crew are accounted for and safe”. It handled some 78 million passengers past year.
Officials from the airline and Dubai International Airport declined to immediately provide further details when reached by phone.
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That was Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed al Maktoum, the airline’s chairman.
