Qantas plane makes emergency landing after engine fault fills cabin with SMOKE forcing terrified passengers to flee down inflatable slides
The plane was forced to land after an engine fault
The plane was forced to land after an engine fault
A QANTAS flight has been evacuated on landing at Perth Airport after crew and passengers smelled fumes in sections of the aircraft.
Fumes in the cockpit or cabin, caused by a hydraulic issue, sparked the evacuation after the plane landed safely at 11.36am.
Qantas has confirmed 97 passengers and five crew were evacuated safely from the aircraft, a Fokker 100, via its emergency slides.
The flight, QantasLink QF1623, was flying to Perth from Newman, in WA’s Pilbara.
Police, fire crews and St John Ambulance were also at the scene amid reports the flight had to make an emergency landing.
Qantas confirmed that no emergency landing was declared by the pilots but emergency services attended as a precaution.
The pilot reported hydraulic issues on descent into Perth, an airport spokeswoman said.
“All passengers disembarked safely from the aircraft via emergency slides and were bussed to the terminal,” she said.
It’s believed two people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Ross Jenkins, who was among the passengers on the plane, told PerthNow he could smell a kerosene-like substance but saw no smoke.
“We landed right at the tail end of the airport which I thought was unusual,” he said.
“We came down a bit steeper than what we would normally.
“The cabin crew were told to man their stations then I heard ‘evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.’
“The captain said ‘evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.’
“We slid down the wing and I helped a couple of ladies down.
“There was no sign of any smoke.
“It was all pretty controlled and were we moved to a clear paddock away from any immediate danger.
“They (the crew) sensed the risk and did the right thing.”
Yesterday an IndiGo flight made an emergency landing yesterday after a two-month-old baby died on board.
The tiny tot, who was suffering from a heart ailment, fell ill on board the internal flight from Kolkata to Bengaluru.