Emirates Airplane crash-landed without wheels at Dubai Airport

On August 3rd, An Emirates plane crash-landed at the Dubai International Airport. All the 300 people on board were able to escape from the burning aircraft, but a firefighter was killed. Emirates Airline Chairman, Ahmed bin Saeed, paid tribute to the firefighter who lost his life fighting the blaze. 

The Boeing 777 was flying to Dubai from the southern Indian state of Kerala.

The chairman told a press conference that evacuation procedures were executed professionally and the cabin crew were the last to leave the plane.

A passenger on board the plane, identified as Sharon Maryam Sharji, told Reuters that the experience was terrifying. She said;

“As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin. People were screaming and we had a very hard landing. We left by going down the emergency slides and as we were leaving on the runway, we could see the whole plane catch fire.”

Emirates airline said there were 282 passengers and 18 crew on board from 20 nationalities, most of them Indian, with 24 Britons and 11 people from the United Arab Emirates.

As is usual following a big accident, there are lots of unconfirmed reports out there speculating about what happened.

The aircraft is sitting on the ground without its landing gear, but it is not clear why the wheels are not down. The answers should come out in the next few days.

Source: BBC News