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MANILA - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.
Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which had taken off from London and stopped in Hong Kong, plunged 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) in what one said was an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal.
An urgent investigation is underway into what punched a hole of about three metres (10 feet) in diameter into the fuselage near the right wing.
A Qantas spokeswoman said the plane, carrying 346 passengers and 19 crew, was now undergoing an inspection on the ground in Manila, where luggage could be clearly seen jutting out of the hole.
"There was a terrific boom, and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down," June Kane, a passenger from Melbourne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We were told that one of the rear doors, a hole had blown into it, but I've since looked at the plane and there's a gigantic gaping hole in the plane."
"It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm," she added, speaking from the Philippine capital.
Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its fuselage, and it was being inspected by engineers.
He said the flight crew performed emergency procedures after oxygen masks were deployed and there were no reports of any injuries.
In a statement, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the plane had been flying at 29,000 feet when the crew were forced into an emergency descent after a section of the fuselage separated and resulted in rapid decompression of the cabin.
It said the crew descended the aircraft to 10,000 feet "in accordance with established procedures" and diverted the plane safely to Manila.
The Bureau said it was sending four investigators to Manila to assist local authorities with the investigation.
Qantas flight QF30, which took off from Hong Kong at 9:00am (0100 GMT), had been due to arrive in Melbourne at 1145 GMT, according to the Qantas website.
Passenger June Kane said the problem had appeared to centre on the baggage compartment of the plane.
"I'm looking at the plane now and just forward of the wing, there's a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody," she said.
"It's about two metres by four metres and there's baggage hanging out so you assume that there's a few bags that may have gone missing.
Passengers praised the crew for landing the plane safely.
"We heard a very large bang, the oxygen masks came out. But the crew was very calm and everything was fine," said Phil Rescall, a 40-year-old man from England travelling to Australia for work.
"The shock came when many got off the plane and saw the hole," he told AFP. "You see the hole and you realise we were very lucky.
"Some people were crying, some people were pretty shaken when they saw the hole."
"The crew were terrific, they did a great job," another passenger, Brendan McClements, said. "Everyone gave them a round of applause as we landed."
Qantas said the 747-400 was not the one that was used to fly Pope Benedict XVI out of Australia earlier this month after his visit to Sydney.
- AFP/jk/ir
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