Article Posted on : - Oct 07, 2008

File picture of a Qantas Airbus 330

SINGAPORE (BNS): At least 60 passengers were injured, 10 of them seriously, when a passenger plane of the Australian airlines Qantas to Perth from Singapore fell more than 350 feet in air when it was over western Australia.

The Airbus A330-300, with 303 passengers and 10 crew on board, made an emergency landing immediately at Learmonth airbase, midway between Perth and Broome this afternoon. The QF72 flight was less an hour away from its destination when the midair emergency struck.

The passengers were thrown around the cabin due to sudden jerk and some of them broke their bones while others were left badly bruised.

The incident is the latest in a series of mostly sfety related issues to hit Qantas in recent times.

The aircraft, an Airbus 330, had taken off from Singapore for Perth when it experienced abrupt loss of altitude. It was cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet. It dropped by at least 350 ft suddenly, throwing passengers and crew offguard. The crew announced emergency and landed on an air force runway in Western Australian town of Learmonth. The aircraft's destination, the Perth airport, was an hour away from Learmonth.

The aircraft's uncharacteristic behaviour created chaos in the cabin as the impact led some of the passengers to hit the ceiling. The aircraft came to a halt at 1.45 pm local time after touching down on the airstrip.

Australian authorities were quoted as saying that a total of 60 passengers were wounded out of which 15 were being treated for serious injuries. Those needing advanced medical attention were airlifted by four Royal Flying Doctor Service planes. But the authorities ruled out if the injuries were life threatening.

The airline has not made any official statement so far about the reason for aircraft to lose altitude suddenly. The passengers were later moved out of the accident site in a Boeing 767 and Boeing 717 aircraft.

An Air Transport Safety Board official was quoted by agencies as saying that the crew declared a mayday and diverted the aircraft to Learmonth near Exmouth in Western Australia where it landed without further incident.

Qantas has been in news for all the wrong reasons in recent months. Its flight safety standards have been questioned by Australian aviation authorities. The airline was warned to improve as several incidents which could have resulted in serious accidents have been reported on various flights.

Recently, a Boeing 747 operated by Qantas on London-Melbourne route was made to land in the Philippines after an oxygen canister exploded damaging aircraft's fuselage when it was flying at an altitude of 29,000 ft.

It was followed by another incident when landing gear door of a Boeing 767 did not close after the wheels were retracted at Adelaide airport. Another B-767 had hydraulic fluid leak and was returned to Sydney soon after take-off.

The aviation experts were surprised about today’s incident. It is normal for an aircraft to lose or gain altitude during turbulence. But the drop of 350 ft is not caused even in severe turbulence. The passengers were injured as most of them were not wearing seat belts, because until then the flight was normal and relaxed.