Emirates plane catches fire upon landing at Dubai airport

TWO Thai nationals were among those who survived the Emirates Airline flight which crash-landed at the main airport in Dubai on Wednesday.

Airline officials were not able to say what caused the accident, though the chief executive ruled out “anything in terms of security issues at this stage”.

Initial photographs, posted to social media, show a plane lying crumpled on the tarmac with black smoke pouring from its upper section.

A Boeing 777 of Emirates Airline, flying from Thiruvananthapuram, India, to Dubai, made an emergency landing at 12:45 local time (0845 GMT) at Dubai International Airport.

A video has emerged on internet which shows passengers of the crashed Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai flight wasting time in pulling out their luggage before evacuating the flight, which had caught fire.

According to air traffic control recordings cited by Aviation Herald, a respected independent website specializing in information on air accidents, controllers at Dubai had reminded the crew of the Boeing 777 to lower the landing gear as it came into approach. “Our priority remains with the passengers and crew involved”.

“We can confirm that there are no fatalities, all passengers and crew are accounted for and safe”, a statement said.

In addition to the Thais, onboard were 226 people from India, 24 from Britain, 11 from the Emirates, six from Saudi Arabia and the U.S., five from Turkey and four from Ireland.

“As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin”, Sharon Maryam Sharji said.

A problem with the plane’s landing gear appeared to have at least been a contributing factor.

Jasim Issa Mohammed Hassan died while battling the Emirates plane blaze. Emirates predicted there would be a four-hour delay in operations across its network.

“I was shocked when I heard about that”, he said.

Dubai Airport has offered beverages at all restaurants to all passengers at all airports for free. It handled some 78 million passengers past year.

Emirates has an excellent safety record and is the Middle East’s biggest airline.

The aircraft, a Boeing 777-300 registration A6-EMW powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines, was delivered to Emirates in March 2003.

The airline is not releasing the name of the pilots but it is co-operating with the investigators.