Social media praise for Emirates crew

Cabin crew of the EK521 Trivandrum-Dubai flight that met with an accident yesterday are being praised for their timely action that helped evacuate all passengers to safety within seconds and moments before the aircraft was consumed by the fire.

Emirates flight EK521 was involved in an operational incident upon landing at Dubai International Airport at approximately 12:45hrs local time yesterday, on August 3, 2016.

All passengers and crew were evacuated safely due to the quick response of the teams at Emirates and Dubai International Airport.

Grateful passengers have recalled how the cabin crew guided passengers to jump out of the aircraft and were themselves the last ones to get off the cabin.

"They did a commendable job. The cabin crew could be seen running towards the emergency exits and opened the doors asking people to get out. They were the last to get out," says passenger Joji.

The aircraft was consumed by fire within seconds after the evacuation was complete.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, he said, the timely evacuation played a crucial role in saving hundreds of lives. "I am lucky I survived. It was miraculous we all survived. The credit goes to the cabin crew," he says.

The aircraft was carrying 282 passengers and 18 crew at the time of the incident.

"Evacuating close to 300 people in a minute or two is not an easy task. Several people were seen trying to remove their hand baggage from the cabins. They kept shouting at us to get out immediately," he said.

"No sooner had I got out. Maybe within a minute or two I heard an explosion. We all would have died if we were inside then," he adds.

Speaking to Australian media, another passenger Amelia Binu says they would have walked for a few metres before they heard a loud noise from the flight. The Scottish woman was travelling with her husband and a five-month-old kid and was returning from a holiday in Kerala.

Narrating the role of cabin crew, she says, "The hostesses were trying to calm everybody but also trying to find out what happened, they were really good at their job… At the last minute, they opened the door and said 'let's go out,' 'let's go out,' so everybody started pushing… It was a miracle." She is reported to have told Fairfax Media.

Social media is abuzz with praise for the cabin crew with Twitter and Facebook posts praising their timely action.

"As ex cabin crew with this airline who worked on this actual aircraft - this hits home. Excellent evacuation by…" said one tweet.

Another tweet says, "The Cabin Crew aren't there in your flight to serve you chicken or fish, they are there for your safety."

Although the exact time taken for evacuation is still not clear a 2-minute video clip taken by a passenger aboard the flight suggests the evacuation was complete in less than 90 seconds.

According to passengers, there were no safety warnings issued ahead of the landing. "It was all normal until the flight touched down. Only when it first hit the ground did we realise that something was wrong. The flight tried to take off again but landed on its belly," says Jijo.

Any evacuation is normally ordered by the Captain of the flight but when communication with the main crew is not possible or cut off, the cabin crew are trained to order the evacuation themselves once the aircraft has come to a complete stop.

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