An Emirates flight from India with 300 people on board crash landed at Dubai’s main airport on Wednesday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and halting all traffic at the Middle East’s busiest airport. Authorities said all passengers were evacuated safely.
Dubai-based Emirates said the accident happened around 12.45 pm local time as Emirates Flight EK521 was arriving from Thiruvananthapuram.
The airline confirmed that there were 282 passengers and 12 crew on board and said “all passengers and crew are accounted for and safe.”
There were 226 Indians in the Emirates Flight.
The Dubai government’s official media office separately said that all passengers were “evacuated safely and no injuries have been reported so far.”
It said authorities were “dealing with the incident at the moment to ensure safety of all” and that all departures from the airport had been halted until further notice. Emirates predicted there would be a four-hour delay in operations across its network.
“Our main priority at this time is the safety and wellbeing of all involved and full co-operation is being extended to the authorities and emergency services managing the situation,” the carrier said.
The Boeing 777 departed Thiruvananthapuram at 10:19am and was scheduled to land at 12:50 pm local time, according to Emirates. The Dubai-based carrier said the incident happened at 12.45pm local time (845 GMT).
Emirates flight is seen after it crash-landed at Dubai International Airport on Wednesday. (Reuters)
The Dubai airport has suspended operations until further notice.
