PERTH, Australia: Up to 40 people were injured after a mid—air
incident forced a Qantas flight — flying from Singapore to Perth —
to make an emergency landing on Tuesday, a police officer said.
The Airbus A320 (flight QF 72) made a successful emergency
landing at an airfield in the Western Australian town of Exmouth
after issuing a mayday emergency call, Sergeant Greg Lambert of the
West Australian Police said.
The Qantas aircraft was due to land in Perth at 3pm local time,
but it encountered severe turbulence.
Qantas confirmed that a number of passengers and crew members
were injured, many of them were believed to have sustained
fractures and lacerations.
It is unclear yet if there are any Singaporeans on board the
Qantas flight.
"It is understood up to 40 people were injured during a mid—air
incident," Lambert told the Australian Associated Press. "The
nature of the mid—air incident is unknown."
Emergency services and medical staff were on standby at the
airport, which lies about 1,100 kilometres northeast of the state
capital of Perth, he said.
Australia’s national carrier Qantas, which has suffered a spate
of incidents in recent months, told AFP it had no information about
the incident, but was working to find out more.
Qantas also owns the discount airline Jetstar, which operates
around 29 Airbus A320s on domestic routes.
In July, an exploding oxygen bottle punched a huge hole in the
side of a Qantas Boeing 747—400, forcing an emergency landing in
the Philippines. No passengers were injured in the mid—air
drama.
Air safety investigators announced a safety review of Qantas,
which has long been known as the world’s safest airline, after two
other incidents occurred involving its aircraft within two
weeks.
— AFP/CNA/yb/ls