A Boeing 747 passenger plane with over 300 passengers and crew members made an emergency landing at the Manila international airport in the Philippines on Friday after a "hole in its belly" caused it to lose cabin pressure.
The Qantas Airways airplane, which took off in London and stopped over in Hong Kong, was carrying 350 passengers and 16 crew members bound for Melbourne when the incident happened, Philippine news network ABS-CBNNews.com reported, citing Ding Lima, an operations officer of the airport.
No injuries have been reported in the accident.
Pictures handed out by the airport administration showed that there is a big hole in the belly of the aircraft near the right wing. The aircraft has been tugged away for an "Inspection".
"The hole on the belly was big. The hole's diameter was about 2. 5 to 3 meters," said Octavio Lina, assistant general manager for operations at the Manila International Airport Authority' was quoted by a local radio dzBB as saying.
The airplane diverted from its original course and landed at the Manila airport at 11:00 local time, Philippine TV network GMA News said.
"We were first informed by the plane's pilot that there was a cabin pressurization. They had to land immediately. The pilot decided to call our Manila control tower to help in the immediate landing on the nearest airport," Lina said.
Lina said the airplane landed safely and flight operations at the Manila airport were not disrupted since the Qantas plane was immediately pulled out of the runway 15 minutes after it landed.
A Qantas assistant supervisor in Manila said the landing was not "life threatening" and the aircraft had landed safely.
Luggage inside the plane were reportedly almost thrown out of their compartments during the incident. Tension briefly gripped the plane after oxygen masks began dropping when the plane altitude plummeted.
All passengers and crew have left the aircraft and been taken to nearby hotels in Manila.
The Sydney-based Qantas Airways Limited is Australia's largest airline.
(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2008)
