300 Penumpang Selamat setelah Pesawat Emirates Terbakar di Dubai
300 Passengers and Crew Escape Just Minutes Before Emirates Jet Explodes after Crash-landing in Dubai
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
SEBUAH pesawat jet penumpang Emirates mengalami kecelakaan saat mendarat di Dubai Airport sebelum meledak menjadi bola api besar di landasan pacu.
Asap hitam tebal membubung tinggi di atas Bandara Internasional Dubai setelah pesawat Emirates Boeing 777, membawa 282 penumpang dan 18 awak terpaksa mendarat darurat sekitar pukul 12:45 waktu setempat.
Pilot mengatakan kepada penumpang menjelang pendaratan bahwa ada masalah dengan roda pesawat, setelah lepas landas dari Bandara Internasional Trivandrum di India. Laporan lain mengklaim mesin di sebelah kanan terbakar dan jatuh saat pesawat mendarat.
Foto-foto mencekam menunjukkan pesawat meledak membentuk bola api di landasan pacu, dengan kekuatan ledakan melemparkan sebuah panel besar dari pesawat ke udara. Video terpisah menangkap momen goresan sepanjang landasan pacu sebelum mengeluarkan asap.
Hebatnya, semua penumpang, termasuk 24 warga Inggris, enam orang Amerika, empat dari Irlandia dan dua warga Australia, dievakuasi dengan selamat dalam beberapa menit pendaratan sebelum pesawat itu dilalap api.
Foto-foto insiden tersebut menunjukkan pesawat tergeletak dengan kabin robek di landasan dengan asap hitam mengepul dari bagian atas, sementara video lain menunjukkan penumpang berjalan ke tempat yang aman di terminal memiliki setelah dievakuasi.
Kapten diyakini telah mengirimkan sinyal darurat di saat-saat sebelum pesawat itu siap untuk mendarat.
Seorang pilot yang menyaksikan pesawat dengan nomor penerbangan EK521 mendarat mengatakan kepada NDTV pesawat itu di 'luar biasa' dan menghantam 'runway'. Seorang penumpang di pesawat lain mengatakan dia bisa melihat peluncuran darurat dikerahkan.
Semua penerbangan ke terminal Dubai telah dialihkan sementara petugas penyelamat bekerja keras di lokasi kejadian. Semua pesawat yang akan take-off dan mendarat telah ditangguhkan.
Penumpang dievakuasi dari pesawat mengatakan bahwa beberapa menit sebelum penerbangan mendarat di bandara Dubai, pilot membuat pengumuman bahwa dia harus melakukan pendaratan darurat di tengah masalah dengan landing gear.
Awak kabin kemudian membuka semua pintu keluar darurat dari pesawat dan 300 penumpang dan awak pesawat dievakuasi ' beberapa menit setelah pendaratan'.
Warga Dubai warga Girisankal Gangadhakan mengatakan istrinya meneleponnya setelah pesawat mendarat untuk memberitahu bahwa ia dan ketiga anak mereka berada di pesawat, terlibat dalam kecelakaan tapi aman.
"Saya terkejut ketika saya mendengar tentang itu," katanya.
T.P. Seetharam, duta besar India untuk Uni Emirat Arab (UEA), mengatakan diplomat India dikirim ke bandara dan bertemu langsung dengan banyak penumpang. Dia mengatakan banyak yang shock, dan bahwa hanya satu orang - anggota awak - dibawa ke rumah sakit untuk menjalani perawatan, seperti di MailOnline.
AN EMIRATES passenger jet has crash landed at Dubai Airport before exploding into a massive fireball on the runway.
Thick black smoke could be seen rising over Dubai International Airport after an Emirates Boeing 777, carrying 282 passengers and 18 crew was forced into an emergency landing at around 12.45pm local time.
The pilot told passengers seconds from landing that there was a problem with landing gear on the plane, which had flown from Trivandrum International Airport in India. Other reports claimed the engine on the right side caught fire and fell off while coming in to land.
Dramatic footage shows the aircraft exploding in a fireball on the runway, with the force of the blast throwing a huge panel from the plane into the air. Separate video captures the moment it scrapes along the runway before coming to a halt in a cloud of smoke.
Incredibly, all passengers, including 24 Britons, six Americans, four from Ireland and two Australians, were evacuated safely within minutes of landing before the plane was engulfed in flames.
Photographs of the incident showed a plane lying crumpled on its belly on the tarmac with black smoke pouring from its upper section while more video shows passengers running to safety at the terminal having been evacuated.
The captain is believed to have sent out and emergency signal in the moments before the plane was preparing to land.
A pilot who witnessed flight EK521 landing told NDTV the plane came in 'really hard' and hit the 'runway tail'. A passenger on another plane said she could see emergency chutes deployed.
All flights to the Dubai terminal have been diverted while emergency crews work at the scene. All take-offs and landings have been suspended.
Passengers evacuated from the plane say that minutes before the flight crash-landed at Dubai airport, the pilot made an announcement that he needed to make an emergency landing amid problems with the landing gear.
Cabin crew then opened all the emergency exits of the plane and all 300 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were evacuated 'within minutes of the landing'.
Dubai resident Girisankal Gangadhakan said his wife called him after the plane landed to tell him that she and their three children onboard had been involved in an accident but were safe.
'I was shocked when I heard about that,' he said.
T.P. Seetharam, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, says Indian diplomats have been dispatched to the airport and had met directly with many passengers. He says many are in shock, and that only one person - a crew member - had been taken to the hospital for treatment.
