[gallery size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Emirates Airliner with 282 passengers, 18 crew onboard crash lands in Dubai" ids="73724,73725"]
DUBAI, UAE — Latest — Passengers evacuated from an Emirates flight say that minutes before the flight crash-landed at Dubai airport, the pilot made an announcement that he needed to make an emergency landing.
Iype Vallikadan, a reporter from Indian newspaper "Mathrubhumi News," says the passengers said the pilot spoke to them as the plane neared Dubai on Wednesday, saying there was a problem with the landing gear and that he would make an emergency landing.
Passengers said the cabin crew opened all the emergency exits of the plane and that all 300 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were evacuated within minutes of the landing.
The paper covers the southern Indian state of Kerala, of which Thiruvananthapuram is the capital. That's the city the flight originated from.
Hundreds of thousands of Kerala residents work in the Gulf countries. The Emirates flight, flying directly from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai, was immensely popular with people from the state.
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An Emirates flight from India with 282 passengers, 18 crew onboard crash-landed at Dubai's main airport on Wednesday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and halting all traffic at the Middle East's busiest airport. Dubai authorities said all passengers were evacuated safely.
Dubai-based Emirates said the accident happened as Flight EK521 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. The airline gave no details on the fate of those onboard.
The Dubai government's official media office said on Twitter that all passengers were "evacuated safely and no injuries have been reported so far," however.
It said authorities were "dealing with the incident at the moment to ensure safety of all" and that all departures from the airport have been halted until further notice.
"Our main priority at this time is the safety and wellbeing of all involved and full co-operation is being extended to the authorities and emergency services managing the situation," the carrier said.
Video posted online showed black smoke billowing from what looked like an Emirates jetliner lying on its belly on the runway.
The Boeing 777 departed Thiruvananthapuram at 10:19 a.m. and was scheduled to land at 12:50 p.m. local time, according to Emirates.
Thiruvananthapuram is the capital of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, a popular beachside tourist destination. Man blue-collar migrant workers employed in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations come from Kerala.
Officials from the airline and Dubai International Airport declined to immediately provide further details when reached by phone.
Dubai International is by far the Mideast's busiest airport, and is the world's busiest air hub in terms of international passenger traffic.
Government-backed Emirates is the region's biggest carrier, and operates the world's largest airline fleet of the wide-body 777 long-haul aircraft.
