An Emirates Flight Catches Fire

An Emirates flight en route from India appeared to catch fire while an emergency 
landing at Dubai International airport on Wednesday.

BOEING 777-300ER 

Emirates plane catches fire in Dubai;

(hundreds escape, 1 firefighter killed)

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (CNN).

By Paul Armstrong, Schams Elwazer and Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 2345 GMT (0745 HKT) August 3, 2016

Hundreds of passengers escaped after an Emirates flight skidded on a runway and burst into flames Wednesday at Dubai International Airport.

Thirteen passengers suffered minor injuries when the plane crashed after landing, Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.

Firefighter Jassim Essa Al-Baloushi was killed "while saving the lives of others," the Dubai media office said.

But a firefighter, identified as Jassim Essa Al-Baloushi, was killed "while saving the lives of others," the Dubai government's media office said. Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted residents were "proud of our youth and their sacrifices while performing their duties in protecting lives and saving people."

Flames and thick, black smoke billowed from the stricken Boeing 777 shortly after it came to a stop on the runway.

There were no fatalities among the 282 passengers and 18 crew members on board, Emirates said.

"Emirates can confirm that today, 3 August 2016, flight EK521 traveling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India to Dubai has been involved in an accident at Dubai International Airport," the airline said.
The majority of those on board were Indian nationals, it added...

Boeing, The Manufacturer

Planes such as Emirates' Boeing 777-300 are designed so that all passengers can escape within 90 seconds, Quest said.

"Airlines plan for this sort of thing," he said. "They have emergency plans in place. The idea is that you have to be able to evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds if there is an accident on the ground. And this clearly appears to be what has happened."

Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, said it was "thankful all aboard were evacuated safely."
"A Boeing technical team is standing by to launch in support of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board," a Boeing statement said.

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The world's busiest international airport was forced to close for a few hours 

Wednesday after a flight made an emergency landing.

Emirates flight EK521 from India caught fire after landing in Dubai. All 300 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 777 were safely evacuated, but the airport suspended all arrivals and departures during the afternoon. Flights have now resumed.

Dubai overtook London Heathrow to become the world's biggest airport for international passenger traffic last year.

Over 78 million passengers (or about 214,000 per day) came through Dubai airport in 2015, up 66% since 2010. That number could hit 85 million this year, according to forecasts from the airport's parent company.

Emirates Boeing 777 Explodes on Dubai Runway After Crash Landing

by DAVID WYLLIE, MATTHEW GRIMSON, ALASTAIR JAMIESON, JASON CUMMING and ZIAD JABER

An Emirates Boeing 777 with 300 people on board crash landed at Dubai International Airport Wednesday, skidding along a runway and erupting into an intense fire — but the airline said all onboard survived.

An engine was torn from the right wing of the plane as it scraped to a halt, forcing passengers and crew to evacuate before the aircraft was gutted by fire.

Flights were halted at the airport — the busiest in the Middle East — as black smoke billowed from the wreckage.

Eyewitness Osama Alghamdi, a 23-year-old student, told NBC News that he saw a "huge, huge fire" and then "two explosions" while heading to his gate for a flight to Glasgow, Scotland…