Qantas plane dumps fuel over Indonesia’s Batam island
By DPA, IANSWednesday, November 3, 2010
JAKARTA - A Qantas plane dumped fuel over Indonesia’s Batam island Thursday to make an emergency landing in Singapore, an Indonesian flight safety official told local television.
Singapore’s aviation authority confirmed that there had been no crash. “The plane is attempting to land” in Singapore, an official told DPA.
Indonesia’s Metro TV reported residents in Batam found broken pieces, believed to be plane parts, after they heard an explosion in the air and saw smoke from a plane flying over the area.
Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia’s National Transport Safety Committee, told the channel that he received information that a Qantas plane was dumping fuel to make an emergency landing at Singapore’s Changi airport.
“We heard a loud explosion and after that the plane emitted dark smoke from the left wing,” a resident, identified as Reinhard, told Metro TV.
“The plane was still flying but residents found pieces — one of them was about 80 centimetres,” he said.
Metro showed a photo from a local police station showing metal pieces painted red and white.
