Australian passengers have recounted terrifying stories of debris flying through the cabin of a Qantas plane after a "gigantic" hole opened up in its belly at 29,000 feet.
Passengers said they realised how lucky they'd been when they saw the size of the hole near the wing of flight QF30 after pilots made an emergency landing in Manila yesterday.
The hole was so large that it extended from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin, sending debris and freezing wind swirling, Melbourne woman Marina Scaffidi said from Manila.
She described hearing a "big bang" as the plane flew over the South China Sea en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
A report by the Manila International Airport Authority, quoting pilot John Francis Bartels, said an initial investigation indicated there was an "explosive decompression".
Qantas would not comment directly last night on a claim that the older 747-400, identified as VH-OJK, had been found to have "serious corrosion issues" during a maintenance check at the airline's jet base in Avalon near Melbourne in February this year.
According to the aviation forum, airliners.net, VH-OJK was undergoing a cabin reconfiguration for a new premium passenger class but was delayed several weeks because corrosion was found on the airframe.
But a Qantas spokesman said last night that a series of checks on the aircraft had detected nothing out of the ordinary.
Melbourne woman Dr June Kane described how parts of the plane's interior broke apart in the depressurised cabin.
A nervous flyer, she was talking to a woman across the aisle when they both heard a loud boom.
"The first thing that happened was this piece of chipboard went flying past between us as we were talking. She looked at me and said, 'That sounds bad.' It was like the B movies: stuff started flying around, newspapers, bits of wood - anything that wasn't anchored down."
Dr Kane said there had been a lull "when we presumed the plane was going to fall apart".
The captain then made an announcement that made her blood run cold, "Life stations please, crew."
"I thought, God, this is it, this is 'death stations'.
"But is was just that they took off their oxygen and put on mobile masks, and started moving through the cabin to make sure everyone was OK."
"The captain then said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have no idea what happened, we seem to have a hole in one of the doors, and I'm just going to get us to the nearest airport'."
Dr Kane said as the plane descended rapidly, dropping about 20,000 feet, she kept eye contact with the woman across the aisle.
The descent was so steep some people's ears began bleeding.
But people stayed calm, and it wasn't until the plane landed that the two women hugged each other across the aisle in relief.
She said when the passengers eventually were allowed off the plane they immediately walked along the airport to see what had happened to the plane.
"That's when people started crying. It was just shocking. There was a hole in the door that was the edge of the hole, which went right the way under the fuselage, with bags hanging out of it. I don't know how the plane didn't break in half, frankly."
Another passenger, Sarah Lucas, said she was falling asleep when she heard a "really loud bang" followed by a sudden rush of wind down the corridor.
She said the loss of pressure lasted for "about a minute" as passengers took directions from the flight crew.
"I think we were falling for a few minutes and I said to my sister 'I've never gone down this fast in a plane before'."
Ms Lucas said most of the passengers remained clam despite the drama.
"I was quite surprised that most people were inwardly panicked and sat there frozen, just trying to listen to what the flight attendants were saying," she said.
She said when the pilot safely landed the plane in Manila, many of the passengers applauded his efforts.
"I thought he seemed quite shaken when he came out in the terminal to speak to the passengers."
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said last night it was sending four investigators to Manila to inspect the plane, which Qantas said had been carrying 346 passengers and 19 crew. No one was hurt.
"At approximately 29,000 feet, the crew were forced to conduct an emergency descent after a section of the fuselage separated and resulted in a rapid decompression of the cabin," the bureau said.
The crew brought the plane down to 10,000 feet and requested an emergency landing in Manila, where emergency crews were on hand.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the airline was also sending its engineers to Manila.
Manila airport operations officer Ding Lima said many passengers were extremely distressed.
"Upon disembarkation, there were some passengers who vomited. You can see in their faces that they were really scared," he said.
He said part of the plane's flooring and ceiling had given way during the emergency and it was lucky that no one had been hurt.
The chief executive of the Victorian Major Events Company, Brendan McClements, said there was no reason to be scared when the aircraft lost cabin pressure.
"There was a bit of surprise when the wind went rushing through my legs and a couple of napkins went with it, but I had my seatbelt on," he said.
"I strapped it on a bit tighter, I did put the mask over my head, and tightened the belt at the side and from then on it was 'well, what happens, happens' because there's not much else you can do."
He said passengers were calm when the oxygen masks dropped, and he praised the flight crew for their actions.
"There was no sense of panic where I was, the crew did a great job," he said.
Mr McClements said the plane descended to an altitude where the cabin pressure was stable, and passengers were asked to keep their masks on for about 45 minutes.
"Then we just tootled on here to Manila," he said.
After disembarking in Manila, he looked at the plane and saw the gaping 2m hole below the passenger door forward of the starboard wing.
Last night, Qantas said a replacement plane would fly the passengers to Melbourne.
with agencies