Emirates pilot well-experienced UAE national with 7,000+ flight hours

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group, addressed a press conference following the EK521 accident at the Dubai Airport today afternoon.

"The flight pilot is a well experienced UAE national, with more than 7,000 flight hours," he told reporters at the Le Meridian Hotel.

"Emirates flight EK521 today was involved in an operational accident upon landing at Dubai International airport at approximately at 12.45 local time.

Ahmed bin Saeed: Medical teams dealt with 13 persons with minor injuries, who left after a short time pic.twitter.com/OSWjK2xV7B

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 3, 2016

"Due to the quick response from all our teams at Emirates and at the airport and civil defence, thankfully all crew and passenger were evacuated quickly and safely.

"The aircraft was a Boeing 777-300. It was travelling from Trivandrum International Airport. There were 282 passengers and 18 crew members on board."

He added, "Due to this incident, the airport was shut for 5 and a half hours, and resumed operation at 6.30pm local time.

Ahmed bin Saeed: The flight pilot is a well experienced Emirati national with more than 7000 flight hour pic.twitter.com/3HQ4ZtzobC

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 3, 2016

"Due to this a number of flights were cancelled or diverted. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customer. We will post the update on our flights on social media channels. Dedicated lines are open to families of the passengers."

He added that all the crew and the passengers were safe, but a firefighter lost his life during the operation.

Ahmed bin Saeed: We pay tribute to the firefighter who lost his life fighting the blaze. We thank all teams that dealt with the incident

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 3, 2016

"We are collaborating with the local authorities to determine the cause of the accident," he added, refusing to comment on any theories circulating on social media.

"As we speak, we don’t have any information. We need to verify information. don’t want to jump to any conclusion."

"I almost rule out there is any security issue at this stage."

Ahmed bin Saeed discusses the incident and says Dubai airport resumed operations at 6:30pm pic.twitter.com/tEMRATrQAq

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 3, 2016

احمد بن سعيد يتحدث حول الحادث الذي تعرضت له رحلة طيران الامارات ويؤكد عودة العمليات بمطار دبي من الساعه 6:30 pic.twitter.com/7QPPzrZY5u

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 3, 2016

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