Emirates flight from Trivandrum crash-lands in Dubai, passengers safe
275 passengers and crew were safely evacuated; there are reports the plane caught fire mid-air.
Dubai: An Emirates plane crash landed at Dubai Airport after reportedly catching fire in mid-air on Wednesday.
According to reports, Emirates Airlines flight EK521 was flying from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai airport when it was forced to make an emergency landing.
Video footage showed smoke billowing out of the Boeing 777 which has a capacity of carrying over 300 passengers.
The moment #EK521 came to a halt at DXB after landing from India. Appears to show one engine parted with aircraftâš pic.twitter.com/kSd4PtTGKe
— Flight Alerts âš (@FlightAlerts777) August 3, 2016
Emirates Airlines issued a statement following the incident.
"There were 275 passengers and crew on board. Our main priority now is the safety and well-being of all involved,” the Emirates statement said.
“We are extending full co-operation to authorities & emergency services managing the situation”.
"We are in the process of opening our customer assistance line and will share these details soon but at this stage we have no further information on what may have caused the accident. Our priority remains with the passengers and crew
involved," the airline said.
"We are expecting a 4-hour network wide delay, more information will be available on the Emirates website and social media channels," it added.
The main priority remains with those involved and offering support to concerned family and friends, the airline said.
Emirates can confirm that an incident happened at Dubai International Airport on 3rd August 2016 at about 12.45pm local time.
— Emirates airline (@emirates) August 3, 2016
All passengers on flight EK521 have been escorted to safety and the area has been cordoned off.
Landing gear failure & no casualties. Great job on @emirates on evacuating all pax & crew #EK521. pic.twitter.com/ZoXsZbabSi
— Shiva Singh (@shivasingh) August 3, 2016
Dubai airport has halted all operations after the incident, said reports. All flights from Dubai have been diverted to Maktoum International Airport or Sharjah International Airport.