Hundreds of passengers fled an Emirates airliner that crash-landed and caught fire in Dubai on Wednesday, resulting in the death of a firefighter and a four-hour shutdown of the busy airport. Apparently for a few Indian passengers on board the unfortunate Emirates Flight EK521 their luggage was dearer then their lives.
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Meanwhile, Dubai Airports has confirmed that a total of 116 arriving and 121 departing flights were cancelled and a total of 44 inbound flights were diverted to neighbouring airports following the incident yesterday (Wednesday).
Emirates said all 282 passengers and 18 crew were safe.
A Boeing 777 of Emirates Airline, flying from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai, made an emergency landing at 12.45 local time (0845 GMT) at Dubai International Airport.
The plane reportedly “came in hard” and burst into flames after its landing gear failed.
Initial photographs, posted to social media, show a plane lying crumpled on the tarmac with black smoke pouring from its upper section.
Planes such as Emirates’ Boeing 777-300 are designed so that all passengers can escape within 90 seconds, Quest said.
“In the wake of the Emirates aircraft crash-landing at Dubai airport yesterday and in accordance with the instructions from the Dubai Airport Authorities, all our flights to and from Dubai scheduled for today have been cancelled”, SpiceJet said in a statement.
Tragically, the authorities have since reported that one fearless firefighter has died, naming Jasim Eisa Al Baloushi, a Civil Defence force worker. Apart from that three Emirate Airlines flights, an Air India flight was also delayed.
Dubai International Airport was closed for a number of hours after the crash, but has since reopened.
Swift and effective responses by the aircraft crew and emergency responders prevented fatalities on board, despite extensive damage to the plane.
Following directives from the Dubai airport authorities, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways suspended their flights to Dubai on Thursday as the runway was off limits.
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The airport said it will resume at 6.30pm local time today, with larger aircraft given priority.
