Hole in Qantas plane forces emergency landing

Hole in Qantas plane forces emergency landing passenger's footage on board the stricken Qantas jet Friday July 25 2008 carrying 350 people was ripped open at 30,000 feet today, sucking the pressure from the cabin and forcing a rapid plunge to an emergency landing in the Philippines. The Boeing 747-400 jet had left Hong Kong an hour earlier en route from London to Melbourne when part of its fuselage broke away, leaving a hole running four metres down the right side. Passengers described hearing a loud bang before air and debris rushed through the cabin and the plane "dropped suddenly" as the pilot made an emergency descent to Manila. Australia's ABC Television broadcast a mobile phone conversation with one of the shaken passengers, Dr June Kane, shortly after she left the plane. She said passengers had been startled by an "incredible boom". "There was wood and newspapers flying past me and a woman who I was talking to in first class, and then oxygen masks fell down," Dr Kane said. "The moment it happened I thought we were going to plunge to our deaths. "There was an incredible boom. Everyone thought the plane would disintegrate. [The hole] goes right under the plane. It's about two metres by four metres. "Baggage was flying out." Another passenger, Brendan McClements, said: "We were flying out of Hong Kong, I heard a very loud noise, a bang. "There was a sort of rapid expulsion of wind. It went out of the plane, the air got sucked out, the oxygen masks dropped down and we put them on," said McClements, an events company chief executive from Victoria. "It was very well handled by the Qantas staff - that is the thing that stood out to me. They did a very good job of keeping everyone calm, keeping it under control. "After we landed, there was a very large hole that wasn't there when we took off in Hong Kong." Another passenger told the newspaper how children burst into tears after the "quick bang" reverberated throughout the cabin and flight QF30 plunged. As passengers were evacuated, it became apparent how lucky they were, with the fuselage clearly showing a gash running several metres down the side. Octavio Lina, a Manila airport operations manager, said parts of the plane floor collapsed, revealing cargo underneath. "Upon disembarkation there were some passengers who vomited. You can see in their faces that they were really scared," he said. A passenger on the tarmac praised the pilot, saying he had done an "amazing job" of controlling the aircraft and bringing it down safely. He said all the passengers were shaken up but in reasonably good spirits. Qantas officials said an investigation was under way. "Qantas can confirm Qantas flight 30 from Hong Kong to Melbourne has been diverted to Manila," a spokeswoman said. "The aircraft is on the ground and being inspected as we speak." Peter Gibson, from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, said: "The pilot had some pressurisation warnings about a door on the left-hand side of the aircraft, but exactly what went wrong is still being determined." Investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau were being sent to Manila. Passengers from the flight, which had been due to land in Melbourne at 10pm Australian eastern time, were staying in hotels in Manila until plans were made for their onward journey.

2008-08-11T20:08:08+00:00
Duration: 02:22