Air safety investigators said yesterday that an exploding oxygen cylinder may have been to blame for tearing a huge hole in an Australian Qantas jumbo jet in mid-air, nearly causing a disaster.
Officials said an oxygen back-up cylinder is missing from the aircraft, and ordered the airline to inspect all such bottles on its fleet of Boeing 747s.
The Qantas Boeing 747 had been flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne on Friday when an explosive bang led to a sudden loss of air pressure in the cabin.
The Qantas flight, which had originated in London and was carrying 365 passengers and crew, plunged roughly 6,000m before stabilizing, then made an emergency landing in the Philippine capital Manila.
There, stunned passengers saw a 3m hole in the fuselage adjoining the right wing.
An investigator from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Neville Blyth, told reporters in Manila that an oxygen back-up cylinder was missing.
“It is too early to say whether this was the cause of the explosion,” Blyth said. “But one of the cylinders which provides back-up oxygen is missing.”
He said investigators had ruled out terrorism.
“There is no evidence of a security related event here. Philippine sniffer dogs have inspected the baggage and found no materials of concern,” Blyth said.
Blyth would not comment on the oxygen cylinder, which is roughly the size of a diver’s scuba tank, nor say how many were on the aircraft.
He said the initial inquiry would take two to three days and a preliminary report on the findings should be released in two to three months.
Peter Gibson, a spokesman for Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority, said in Sydney that there were two cylinders “located pretty much exactly where that hole appeared.”
“Clearly that is one key focus of the investigation,” he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS