Qantas Grounds Jets After Emergency Landing

Debris found on island after mystery explosion
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2010 1:20 AM CDT
Qantas Grounds Jets After Emergency Landing
The Qantas Airbus A380 was bound for Sydney.   (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Qantas airlines has grounded all of its A380 super-jumbo jets after one of the planes shed debris and was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore this morning shortly after take-off, the BBC reports. Witnesses on a nearby Indonesian island say they heard an explosion and found debris from the plane on the ground. "I heard a big explosion and saw a commercial passenger plane flying low in the distance with smoke on one of its wings," said a local resident. "The debris started falling on my house."

Nobody was injured in the incident, and the A380 landed safely with three of its four engines still working, said an airline spokeswoman. Qantas has never had a fatal airliner accident. An exploding oxygen bottle blew a large hole in the side of a Qantas plane two years ago, but no one was killed. (More Qantas stories.)

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