AUSTRALIA:QANTAS FLIGHT 30 cruised at 29,000ft above the South China Sea on the last leg of its long journey from London to Australia, writes Barbara McMahon.
Weary passengers were dozing or watching the in-flight entertainment and counting down the hours till they landed in Melbourne when there was what one described as an "incredible boom". A rush of air swept through the cabin, sending debris and passengers' belongings flying.
Some people began crying, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and the plane lurched downwards after the pilot, John Bartels, put it into an emergency descent, plunging 20,000ft in an attempt to deal with the sudden depressurisation.
"It was absolutely terrifying," said one passenger, June Kane. "Everyone thought the plane would disintegrate." After a few minutes the jumbo jet levelled out. Footage taken by a passenger on a mobile phone shows those on board sitting in tense silence as they braced for a crash landing.
The flight, with 346 passengers and 19 crew, was diverted to Manila airport where it made an emergency landing. It was only when the aircraft was on the ground yesterday afternoon that the cause of the drama was revealed: a massive hole had ripped open the fuselage.
Air incident investigators are trying to discover what caused such a catastrophic failure in the body of the Boeing 747-400. Pictures of the damage show the skin of the aircraft torn near one of the cargo doors and baggage hanging out of a hole 2.5 to three metres wide. It was also discovered that part of the Boeing's floor and ceiling had collapsed.
A range of theories is being investigated, including a maintenance failure or corrosion in the body of the 17-year-old aircraft. Investigators will also check whether any pressurised vessel such as a fire extinguisher or oxygen cylinder was responsible or if an item of luggage exploded.
Although terrorism has not been ruled out, investigators do not believe it is a credible reason for the mid-air emergency.
Aviation expert Chris Yates said it was clear that a section of the fuselage had given way in flight, causing rapid decompression. "This is not an uncommon occurrence. Every year there are reports of panels being lost from aircraft in flight and these instances are rarely, if ever, fatal."
Kieran Daly, editor of the online news service Air Transport Intelligence, said the most likely cause was a structural fault, which may have been set off by corrosion of one of the seals. "Corrosion is the great enemy that everyone worries about. You can't stop it, you can only keep on inspecting," he said.
Speaking to RTÉ radio's Liveline programme yesterday, George Kierans, from Drogheda, Co Louth, described how the Boeing 747 appeared to disintegrate as the flooring gave way, part of the ceiling collapsed and debris flew around the cabin.
Mr Kierans said passengers heard a loud bang and the aircraft plummeted after losing cabin pressure. "For three or four minutes it was very scary stuff and obviously when the masks shoot down in front of you, you do realise you're definitely in a very dangerous situation".
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said they had no information on any other Irish people being involved.
An English passenger, Robin McGeechan (42) said: "We were told a door had popped. We only realised that there was a great big hole in the plane after we landed."
As the aircraft touched down, passengers applauded and praised the pilot's handling of the crisis. Only later did shock set in with some passengers vomiting on leaving the aircraft. - (Guardian service)