Evacuation stories from the Biman accident in Dubai

Yesterday, an aircraft accident occurred at Dubai International Airport after a Biman Airbus A310 rejected takeoff. The nose gear collapsed, the aircraft pitched forward, and ultimately skidded to a stop near the end of the runway, resting on its nose and its engine nacelles. (For details about what happened, see previous post.)

All 236 aboard Biman Flight BG006 were evacuated from the aircraft using emergency slides. A report about the evacuation on the Gulf News website says that more than twenty of the passengers were hurt during the evacuation. Some injuries occurred because one of the slides did not reach all the way to the ground.

Here are a few passenger 'first person' accounts from that same news report:

"I fell on my back and got my arms and neck sprained," said Abdul Qader, a passenger who was travelling along with his 22-year-old daughter Noorjahan.

The passengers said no one listened to the announcements that were being made by the cabin crew to remain calm.

"Even before the aircraft could stop, many of the passengers just got up from their seats trying to reach out for their hand baggage from the overhead cabins. Children were crying, mothers were screaming.

"Everyone thought that at any given moment the aircraft was just going to explode," said a passenger, 55-year-old Abdul Bashar, who sustained bruises on his feet, hands and legs.

He said panic gripped the passengers when the aircraft cabin filled with black smoke making it difficult to breathe...

"When the aircraft came to a halt, all the passengers who were seated in the back seats fell on the ones who were seated into the front rows," said Nuruzzaman, another passenger.

"The airplane started to take off, and about 30 seconds later it became very bumpy and after that I heard a bang and the plane started to shake," recalled Mohammad Jahn, 30.

He said: "The cabin crew were also panicking. Initially nothing was done by the crew to help us, and they refused to open the door, saying that there was nothing to worry about."

Another article -- also published by Gulf News -- talked about the people who were injured in the evacuation. Most of the injuries were relatively minor. Only one woman needed to be taken to a hospital.

Abdul Rahman, the husband of the 54-year old woman who was taken to the hospital, told Gulf News that a combination of smoke and passengers' rush to exit the aircraft was to blame for his wife's injuries.

His wife, Mariam Begum, a UK resident of Bangladeshi origin, was treated at the trauma centre for lacerations on her forehead, which required stitches, and scratches on her left hand.

"We were taxiing down the runway and something went wrong with the tyres. And then my wife saw fire in the engine. Smoke filled the cabin," he said.

At that point, he said everyone started to panic.

"There was too much smoke. Nobody could see anything. Everybody was pushing, so she fell down. They all wanted to get out at the same time," he said.

Fortunately the woman's injuries were not as severe as originally feared and she was later discharged from the hospital.

[Photo Source]

Biman accident closes Dubai airport for 8 hours

Yesterday was a chaotic day at Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates.

First, a Cathay Pacific freighter arriving early in the morning from Frankfurt burst a tire on landing. Although shredded bits of the tire were scattered over the runway, according to Khaleej Times, the B747-300 aircraft was able to taxi to the ramp. No one was injured in the incident.

Only minutes after the Cathay Pacific freighter mishap, an Airbus A310 operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines experienced a nose wheel failure during its takeoff roll. It is unclear from press reports whether the fault was with a tire or some other aspect of the nose gear.

At least one report, attributed to a Dubai Civil Aviation (DCA) official, said that "the wheel sustained damage due to the pressure of the brakes." If that is accurate, it suggests that the nose gear may have collapsed due to rejected takeoff.

In any case, the forward section of the aircraft slammed to the tarmac, and the plane skidded down the runway. Photos taken at the scene after the accident show the A310 resting on its engine nacelles, with the fuselage tilted markedly forward.

Biman Flight BG006, with 236 souls on board, was departing Dubai for Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. After the aircraft came to a rest, passengers were evacuated using emergency slides. Gulf News is reporting that 27 people were injured, but only one needed to be hospitalized. There was no word on whether any crew were among those injured.

The accident caused DXB to shut down for about eight hours, according to a press release issued by Dubai International Airport. During that period, 36 aircraft departures were canceled and 35 incoming flights had to be diverted to other airports, including Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, and Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE; and to Muscat, Oman; Kuwait; and Shiraz, Iran.

Gulf News is predicting that financial losses due to the eight-hour shutdown of DXB will likely run into the millions.

While there are no clear estimates of the financial impact resulting from the disruptions, airlines will be affected from the loss of revenue from the cancelled flights. And with the diverted flights, airlines will also bear the costs involved with transporting passengers by bus or plane back to Dubai.

"It's very difficult to measure the financial impact of this sort of disruption, but it will certainly be in the millions of dirhams," said David Kaminski-Morrow, editor of Air Transport Intelligence.

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and DCA are investigating the cause of the accident.

UPDATE: Click here to view a YouTube video of the Biman accident, apparently captured by a security camera at Dubai International Airport.

[Photo Source]