Featured image credit: Twitter/@rehanquereshi
Footage taken by a passenger inside the Emirates Plane that crashed at Dubai International Airport yesterday has emerged.
Despite orders from cabin crew on board the aircraft to "leave your bags and jump", desperate passengers are seen scrambling to retrieve their belongings from the overhead lockers as oxygen masks dangle above their heads.
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Evacuation video of
All 300 people on board Flight EK521 were safely evacuated after the crash and 14 people were taken to hospital.
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Although all passengers were safely evacuated, brave firefighter Jasim Issa Mohammed Hassan died while putting out the flames coming from the crashed jet.
Saif Al Suwaidi, director of General Civil Aviation Authority, said the firefighter, "lost his life while saving the lives of others," reported The National. "I salute his ultimate sacrifice that kept many from harm's way. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
According to air traffic control recordings cited by Aviation Herald, a respected independent website that monitors air accidents, Flight EK521 was reminded by controllers at Dubai to lower its landing gear as it approached Dubai International Airport.
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Shortly afterwards, the crew on board announced that they were aborting the landing to 'go around', a routine operation that pilots are fully trained to carry out safely.
However, the aircraft made contact with the end of the runway and it was not clear whether its landing gear had been deployed. An unverified amateur video posted on Twitter appeared to show the sliding belly of the aircraft moments after landing with its right engine torn away from under the wing.
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Social media photographs then showed the plane lying crumpled on the tarmac with thick black smoke pouring from its upper section.
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It was the first aircraft operated by Emirates to be damaged beyond repair since it was founded in the 1980s. The airline reported that both the captain and first officer on board the flight had accumulated more than 7,000 flying hours.
Words: Hamish Kilburn
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Dubai, plane crash
