An Emirates plane flying from Kerala with 300 people on board caught fire after landing here on Wednesday, leaving the passengers and crew shaken and many injured, witnesses and officials said.
A part of the engine of the Boeing 777 appeared to have fallen off after the violent landing at the Dubai International Airport, which was immediately shut for all landings and take-offs.
Huge columns of black smoke billowed from the aircraft, which sat on its belly on the runway.
Emirates said it was not aware what caused the accident.
The plane had taken off from Thiruvananthapuram at 10.19 a.m. and was to land at 12.50 p.m. at Dubai, the airline said.
The chairman and CEO of Emirates airline Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said on Wednesday that a firefighter was killed while responding to one of the carrier’s airplanes crash-landing in Dubai. The airplane was coming from Thiruvananthapuram.
In a tweet, the CEO said, “We pay tribute to the firefighter who lost his life fighting the blaze. We thank all teams that dealt with the incident.”
Regarding the pilot of the airline, Maktoum said, “The flight pilot is a well experienced Emirati national with more than 7000 flight hours.”
Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum also told a news conference on Wednesday night that 10 people were hospitalized after the incident at Dubai International Airport earlier in the day.
#Emirates flight crash-landed @DubaiAirports ...All passengers got out safe.
— Désiré Assogbavi (@Assodesire) August 3, 2016
Well done crew ! pic.twitter.com/c01TXush0s
The accident happened as Flight EK521, a Boeing 777, was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. There were 300 people on board the aircraft at the time.
It said the accident would cause a four-hour network wide delay globally.
A passen ger said the flight came down suddenly and then bounced upwards while landing.
"In no time the cabin was filled with smoke. There was no announcement. The emergency door was forced open," the passenger told Asianet television channel in Kerala on telephone.
WATCH: #Emirates flight catches fire after landing in Dubai https://t.co/nKlDyqivFl pic.twitter.com/fWymxKjtnN
— CNN (@CNN) August 3, 2016
"We believe all the passengers and crew have escaped. Many of us now feel we have breathing problems because of the smoke," said the passenger.
Another passenger said some of them had suffered minor injuries on their hands and legs.
After escaping through the emergency exits, the passengers sprinted away from the plane.
All passengers and crew safely evacuated from the #Emirates aircraft; #Dubai pic.twitter.com/fg8bn9mdDt
— Voice of America (@VOANews) August 3, 2016
"Many of us were taken in a bus to one corner of the airport. Emirates officials are attending to our needs," he said.
Emirates said initially that all passengers were evacuated and there were no reported injuries.
But Dhanya Rajendran, who posted a photograph of the damaged plane, said a few passengers were injured.
Emergency vehicles rushed to the aircraft.
The aircraft involved in the accident was delivered in March 2003.
