3:14pm Saturday 26th July 2008
By Matt Smith
A SOUTHAMPTON accountant on the Australia-bound jumbo jet terror flight has spoken of his fears that the plane was going to crash into the sea.
Iwan Smith, 27, was among 346 passengers on board the Qantas Boeing 747 when a three-metre hole appeared in the fuselage near the right wing. The plane, one hour into its flight from Hong Kong, was forced into an emergency landing in Manila in the Philippines.
Iwan, who had been on his way to start a threemonth secondment in Melbourne with Nexia International, recounted the drama over the phone.
He said: "I was sitting near the back next to the window when I heard a big bang. My first thought was that the front door had blown out.
"The oxygen masks were deployed because of the explosive decompression and the plane went into a steep dive. We went down 25,000ft in the space of a minute, the captain later told us.
"There was a point when I thought we were going to crash land in the sea. To be honest, I thought I would be swimming.
Some people were hysterical.
"The plane then levelled out at 8,000ft, and it wasn't so bad. We carried on flying at this altitude for another hour to get to Manila. We then had to wait another hour on the plane on the runway.
There was no air conditioning for the two hours, and it was so hot.
"We eventually got off and I walked around the side of the plane to see a gaping big hole in the fuselage.'' Manila Airport authorities said the cabin's floor gave way, exposing some of the cargo beneath, and part of the ceiling collapsed.
On landing, Iwan, a graduate with accountancy and investment services group Smith & Williamson, immediately texted a colleague at the Southampton office to say he was fine, adding: "Bit of a drama in the air...'' Flight QF 30, from London to Melbourne, had just made a stopover in Hong Kong. It was due to arrive in Melbourne yesterday morning.
Qantas provided all passengers with hotels while a replacement plane was arranged.
Chief executive Geoff Dixon said: "All 346 passengers and 19 crew disembarked normally and there were no reports of any injuries to passengers or crew.'' Engineers are investigating.
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