Missing oxygen cylinder may be key to Qantas incident

An airline safety investigator looking into the cause of the incident leading to last week’s emergency landing of a Qantas jet in Manila has said that an exploding oxygen cylinder may have created the huge hole in the aircraft’s side.

Qantas officials confirmed that one of the Boeing 747’s oxygen back-up cylinders was missing, and have been ordered by Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau to inspect cylinders throughout their fleet of Boeing 747s.

The Qantas jet was in flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne when an explosion was followed by the passenger cabin losing air pressure.

The flight, which originated in London, stopped in Hong Kong before continuing to Melbourne, and had a total of 365 passengers and crew on board. After the explosion, the aircraft plunged 6000 metres, before successfully making an emergency landing at the Manila International Airport.

Disembarking passengers reported that they were shocked to see a gaping three metre-wide hole in the side of the plane, located in front of the right wing of the 747.

An investigator with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Neville Blyth, said to reporters that one of the jet’s oxygen cylinders was unaccounted for.

“It is too early to say whether this was the cause of the explosion,” Blyth added. “But one of the cylinders which provides back-up oxygen is missing.”

He said that terrorism had been ruled out by investigators. “There is no evidence of a security related event here. Philippine sniffer dogs have inspected the baggage and found no materials of concern.”

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