Qantas plane makes emergency landing in Singapore
The plane, with 459 people aboard, was forced to land after one of its four engines shut down over western Indonesia
A Qantas jetliner has made an emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard, after one of its four engines shut down over western Indonesia and following witness reports of a blast that sent debris hurtling to the ground.
The airliner denied there had been any explosion, and said the plane landed safely.
A Qantas statement said the double-decker A380 plane, which is capable of carrying about 500 passengers, experienced an “engine issue” soon after taking off from Singapore for Sydney. It made a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 433 passengers and 26 crew on board, the statement said.
“The aircraft landed safely at 11:45 am local time,” the statement said. “Some media reports suggested the aircraft had crashed. These reports are incorrect. No Qantas aircraft has crashed,” it said.
Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney, Australia, said there were no reports of injuries and that the airline had not received any reports of an explosion on board.
Witnesses on the Indonesian island of Batam near Singapore reported hearing a large blast and seeing pieces of debris including panels painted white and red falling onto houses and a nearby shopping mall.
Pictures of metal, some the size of a door, were shown on the MetroTV broadcaster, with people milling around.
“I heard a big explosion at around 9:15 am
and saw a commercial passenger plane flying low in the distance with smoke on one of its wings,” Rusdi, a local resident, told MetroTV.
“The debris started falling on my house.”
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