Fed: Nine hurt during escape from Qantas plane in Osaka

AAP General News (Australia)
08-21-2005
Fed: Nine hurt during escape from Qantas plane in Osaka

(Reissuing, clarifying fourth par)



By Peter Jean and Paul Carter

SYDNEY, Aug 21 AAP - Nine people, including two Australians, were injured during the
evacuation of a Qantas jet that landed in Osaka, central Japan, after a smoke sensor was
activated in the aircraft's hold.

A smoke alarm activated shortly after the Perth-bound Airbus A330 carrying 178 passengers
and 13 crew took off from Tokyo.

The pilot made an emergency landing at Kansai Airport about 1am local time (2am AEST).

The two Australians, six Japanese and one Chinese citizen were slightly injured. One
of the Japanese woman fractured her pelvis or hip as passengers used emergency chutes
to escape the plane, Qantas said.

West Australian woman Tracey Heinberger said she received grazes on her elbows and
knees when someone pushed her as she tried to escape the plane with one of her two-year-old
twins.

"Someone actually pushed me," Ms Heinberger told the Seven Network.

"I had one of my two-year-old twins and my husband had the other twin and the lady
in front of me (with an infant) got pushed also."

Another passenger told Japanese television: "People bumped into each other in the mad
rush to escape."

Qantas executive general manager for engineering and maintenance, David Cox, said the
captain had ordered the immediate evacuation of the plane because an Osaka airport fire
officer had reported seeing smoke.

Mr Cox said it was unfortunate the passengers had been hurt, but that was always a
possibility when an aircraft was evacuated quickly because of the risk of fire.

"The evacuation systems are designed to get people off, in fact, within 90 seconds,
and that means they are going to go down those slides very, very quickly," he told reporters
in Sydney.

"And there is the risk of minor injuries."

Despite the report of smoke from the aircraft, Mr Cox said the emergency had probably
been caused by a faulty smoke alarm and ruled out the possibility the incident was terrorist-related.

"At this stage there is no indication of anything other than a sensor issue," he said.

A Qantas plane will be sent to Osaka and passengers could resume their journey to
Perth as early as tomorrow.

Japanese safety investigators quarantined the aircraft and Qantas engineers were on
their way to assist in investigating the incident.

The Airbus A330 was purchased by Qantas in June last year.

In July 3, 2003, five people were injured when a chute was punctured during the evacuation
of a Qantas jumbo jet at Sydney after a brake on the jet caught fire during landing.

AAP pj/pb/jlw/pb

KEYWORD: JET SECOND NIGHTLEAD (REISSUING)

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