Emirates flight from India crash-lands, catches fire at Dubai airport as landing gear fails

Thick, black smoke was seen coming out of the fuselage of the flight EK521. Reports say that the aircraft has suffered heavy damage. Six injured have been admitted to a hospital in Dubai. An Emirates Airline flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai with nearly 300 people on board crash-landed at the Dubai International Airport today.Six people, who were injured in the incident, have been admitted to a hospital in Dubai.

Passengers and crew members were evacuated from the aircraft through emergency chutes as relief and rescue teams rushed in to put out the flames. The Boeing 777 was carrying 282 passengers and 18 crew members from 20 different countries, according to the airline. Those on board included 226 Indians, 24 Britons, 11 Emiratis, and six each from the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The Boeing 777 appeared to have landed on its belly, and images showed thick black smoke rising into the sky.

Emirates chairman Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum paid tribute to the firefighter who lost his life fighting the blaze.

The aircraft was flying to Dubai from the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Flights to and from the airport were suspended for several hours but have now resumed.

The Emirates chairman told a press conference that evacuation procedures were executed professionally and the cabin crew were the last to leave the plane.

Thirteen people had suffered minor injuries, he said.

A passenger on board the plane told Talk911 Nigeria news agency that the experience was terrifying.

"As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin," said Sharon Maryam Sharji.

"People were screaming and we had a very hard landing. We left by going down the emergency slides and as we were leaving on the runway, we could see the whole plane catch fire."

Emirates said there were 282 passengers and 18 crew on board from 20 nationalities, most of them Indian, with 24 Britons and 11 people from the United Arab Emirates.

The captain and the first officer have over 7,000 hours of flying experience each, the airline said.

As is usual following a big accident, there are lots of unconfirmed reports out there speculating about what happened.

The aircraft is sitting on the ground without its landing gear, but it is not clear why the wheels are not down.

Some reports suggest the crew were making a normal, rather than an emergency approach, when air traffic controllers told them to abandon the landing and start climbing again, for unknown reasons.

The answers should come out in the next few days.

Whatever the cause, it is a testament to the crew that they got everyone off the plane.