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Title - Qantas Accident: Undercarriage Collapses on Qantas Plane

Source: AAP | Published: Saturday April 22, 12:50 PM

AUSTRALIA

The undercarriage of a Melbourne-bound Qantas jumbo jet collapsed early today as it was about to take off from Rome Airport.

Flight 16 was moving down the runway when the landing gear collapsed and one of its four engines slammed into the tarmac, according to a passenger.

Fuel leaked across the ground and passengers were evacuated, according to Sky television report.

There have so far been no reports of injuries or the the number of passengers involved.

But a Qantas spokesman confirmed the Jumbo was not the same aircraft badly damaged when it overshot the runway at Bangkok Airport last September.

A passenger on today's flight, called Pat, described the incident in a 2UE Radio interview.

"We'd been moving along the runway getting to the taxiing off point, travelling at about 50km an hour," he said.

"All of a sudden the landing gear collapsed with an almighty bang and the engine hit the ground on the righthand side wing.

"If we'd been taxiing at full speed or on landing that would have been pretty catastrophic.

"As it was, all was pretty calm except for the fuel all over the ground. They got us off the aircraft as soon as possible because they thought it might ignite."

The passengers transferred to a hotel.

The Boeing 747 that ran off the runway at Bangkok underwent a $100 million rebuild.

All 303 passengers and 19 crew disembarked safely after the failure of the landing gear strut, the Qantas spokeswoman said.

"Airport emergency teams who responded to the Captain's request, sprayed foam around the area as a precautionary measure," she said.

Passengers and crew left the plane via stairs at the front of the plane, the spokeswoman said.

The airline's groundstaff in Rome were working throughout the night, afternoon Australia time, to accommodate pasengers in hotels and re-book them onto forward flights.

Qantas will send a team to Rome to begin an investigation.

A spokeswoman at Rome Airport said she was unable to comment on the Qantas incident.

However, she said they would be busy for the rest of the night, dealing with the situation.

Qantas has opened a hotline for relatives or friends seeking information about passengers.

Call 1800 062 241 or 1800 062 271.

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0004/22/A18997-2000Apr22.shtml

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 22, 2000

Answers

Goner! This is one freak accident if ever I heard of one.

-- Billiver (billiver@aol.com), April 23, 2000.