Dubai airport scraps over 200 flights after Emirates crash

Dramatic footage from inside the Emirates flight shows passengers escaping the burning plane on slides and then on foot.

The 282 passengers and 18 crew were safely evacuated.

The video shows the passengers reaching for their luggage before they jump out of the plane.

“A nervous female voice can be heard screaming at passengers to leave their bags behind and jump, jump, jump!”

At the end of the video, the engine, which was on fire, can be seen clearly. “Emirates chief executive officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said 13 people had to be hospitalized, majority for minor injuries”.

Normal flight operations between India and Dubai have been affected following the crash of the Thiruvananthapuam-Dubai flight at the Dubai airport on Wednesday afternoon.

According to air traffic control recordings obtained by Aviation Herald magazine, controllers at Dubai had reminded the crew of the Boeing 777 to lower the landing gear as it approached.

The Boeing 777 plane worth almost Rs.2,000 crore blew up in flames minutes after passengers were evacuated from the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Thiruvananthapuram Airport director George Tharakkan said there will be no cancellations of flights from the airport to Dubai on Thursday.

Dubai Airports added: “Dubai International Airport continues to operate with one runway with higher priority for arriving flights and wide-bodied aircraft to maximise the utilisation of available capacity and ease congestion inside the terminals”.

The Dubai government’s media office said on its Twitter account that all operations, including any departures, from Dubai International have been halted “until further notice”.

Children’s cries and screams can also be heard as smoke started seeping into the cabin and families jostled towards the emergency exits.

A passenger on board the plane told Reuters that the experience was terrifying.

“Emirates is fully collaborating with local authorities to determine the cause of the incident”, the airline said in a statement.