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SYDNEY: An exploding oxygen bottle was to blame for a mid-air blast which last month blew a gaping hole in a Qantas jet travelling from Hong Kong to Australia, safety investigators said Friday.
The emergency caused the cabin to depressurise and forced the pilots to land the Boeing 747-400, carrying 365 people, in the Philippine capital Manila.
In a preliminary report, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that one of seven passenger oxygen cylinders failed and then exploded in the aircraft hold, rupturing the fuselage.
The explosion punched through the cabin floor, driving the malfunctioning cylinder into the cabin before it fell back through the floor and out of the aircraft, it said.
"The cylinder had been propelled upward by the force of the discharge, puncturing the cabin floor and entering the cabin adjacent to the second main cabin door," the report said.
"The cylinder had subsequently impacted the door frame, door handle and overhead panelling, before falling to the cabin floor and exiting the aircraft through the ruptured fuselage."
The bureau said its inquiries into the July 25 incident were continuing and that a survey of all passengers was also being conducted.
- AFP/yb
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