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It was a brush with death for 282 passengers and 18 crew members, who were on board an Emirates flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai (EK521), which crash-landed at the Dubai International Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Six people were injured in the accident. Two passengers spoke to The News Minute, recounting the horror that unfolded minutes before the flight crash-landed.
41-year-old Sai Bhaskar, who was travelling to the US from Kollam in Kerala, via Dubai, narrates what happened minutes before they were evacuated.
“But just as we were landing, there was a giant thud and the plane tilted to the left. The plane was filled with smoke immediately. Oxygen masks dropped down and all emergency exits doors were opened. But there was too much smoke and it was blinding the passengers, so not all the exits were being used. Everyone started exiting from the emergency door at the back, at least that’s what I saw. Everyone came to the rear-end of the plane.”
“I was too scared, we could not even think, but we all knew we had to get out. The crew evacuated the plane first. All of us stepped out, and then the crew came out. We were about 100 metres away from the plane where there was an explosion from the aircraft. The crew did an amazing job of coordinating the evacuation. They were calm and did not shout in panic, they managed to get everyone out,” Bhaskar added.
Another passenger Dr Shaji said that smoke filled the aircraft as the flight landed on the runway.
He added:
(This article was published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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