Firefighter killed after Emirates Boeing 777 crash landing at Dubai Airport

Despite the safe evacuation of all passengers and crew on board an Emirates Boeing 777 which crash landed at Dubai Airport at 12.55pm local time, one firefighter was killed shortly afterwards while tackling the blaze which engulfed the whole aircraft.
The airline’s chair and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said: “We pay tribute to the firefighter who lost his life fighting the blaze. We thank all teams that dealt with the incident.” TP Seetharam, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, said that many passengers were in shock, though one person, a crew member, had been taken to hospital. There were 20 nationalities on board, including 226 from India, 24 from the UK, 11 from the United Arab Emirates and six from both the US and Saudi Arabia.
It is believed that the crash was caused by the failed deployment of the plane’s undercarriage. Video footage shows that the plane seemed to land on its belly without the use of its wheels. According to the Aviation Herald, air traffic control recordings indicate that no emergency was declared by the aircraft, but the control tower reminded the crew to lower the gear as it cleared it to land.
While Emirates have chosen not to make any statement regarding the possible cause of the crash, though they did confirm all passengers were safe. When spoken to after the event, a number of passengers on flight EK521 which was travelling from Thiruvananthapuram in the southern Indian state of Kerala, confirmed that the pilot had announced there was a problem with the landing gear and he would be performing an emergency landing.
Dubai International airport, which is the Middle East’s busiest, was closed for over five hours as a result of the incident, resulting in the diversion of numerous flights until it reopened at approximately 6.30pm local time. Emirates anticipated there would be an eight-hour delay in operations across its network.
Reuters reported comments from one passenger, Sharon Maryam Sharji: “It was actually really terrifying. As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin. 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; it was horrifying.”