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A Qantas flight from Sydney to Auckland has made an emergency landing over fears of a fire in the aircraft’s cargo hold.
QFA141, which had more than 150 people on board, declared a “mayday” — a request for full emergency assistance — while flying over the Tasman, a Qantas spokesperson said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it was alerted to an emergency at Auckland Airport at 11.05am local time (9.05am AEST) on Friday after reports of a fire on board.
The Boeing 737 landed safely at around 11.47am local time (9.47am AEST), Auckland Airport said, and about 16 fire trucks, along with ambulances, attended the scene.
“The airfield is now returning to normal but there may be some slight delays for departing and arriving flights,” a spokesperson for the airport said.
Emergency services met Qantas flight QFA141 when it landed at Auckland Airport. Source: SBS News / Janice Petersen
SBS World News presenter Janice Petersen was on board and said the flight “seemed to be going relatively smoothly” until the final hour.
“I saw cabin crew looking concerned and quickly moving towards the back of the plane as instructed by the pilot. It seemed unusual,” Petersen said.
“Passengers had not been informed of any emergency at that point.”
A while later, there was an announcement from the pilot “acknowledging smoke detected in the cargo”, she said, adding there was “no noticeable reaction” from many on board.
“The pilot added that fire crews would assess the situation upon landing in Auckland, but said we should be able to disembark via the stairs. He flagged the possibility of using escape slides,” she said.
“Ultimately, it was all cleared within about 10 minutes with around five fire crews on the scene, and handled professionally with a minimum fuss.”
A Qantas spokesperson said the pilots “were receiving intermittent indication about potential fire in the cargo hold” about an hour out of Auckland, but a preliminary investigation had suggested there was “no fire in the front cargo hold”.
“Our engineers will inspect the aircraft to determine the cause,” the spokesperson said.
“The aircraft landed safely at Auckland Airport and passengers have disembarked.”
No passengers required treatment for injuries, the Hato St John ambulance service said. Source: SBS News / Janice Petersen
The Hato St John ambulance service responded to the emergency with multiple units, but said no passengers on board required its assistance.
The incident comes after Qantas flight QF1889 from Darwin to Cairns was forced to return to Darwin Airport about 30 minutes into its journey on Monday.
The flight — operated by Alliance Aviation, which Qantas has a stake in — descended 20,000 feet in minutes after pilots received a “pressurisation warning”, a Qantas spokesperson said at the time.
They acknowledged it would have been an “unsettling” experience for those on board but said the plane did not “plunge”.
