Emirates airline flight crash-lands at Dubai airport

NEW DELHI: An Emirates flight that originated in Kerala crashlanded in Dubai International Airport on Wednesday, but all the 300 people on board were safely evacuated, the Dubai government said, with Emirates also confirming the news. A many as 226 people on board were Indians.
"Emirates can confirm that an incident happened at Dubai International Airport on 3rd August 2016 at about 12.45pm local time," the airline said on its website.
Emirates also announced some helpline numbers :
Thiruvananthapuram: 04713377337
UAE - 8002111
UK - 00442034508853
US - 0018113502081
"We can confirm flight EK521 from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai has been involved in an accident at Dubai International," the carrier said on its Twitter account. Emirates further confirmed to the Associated Press that there were no fatalities and that all 282 passengers and 18 crew members are safe.
The Boeing 777 aircraft, departed at 10.19am from Trivandrum International Airport and was scheduled to land at 12.50pm at Dubai International Airport, Emirates said on its web site.
The Dubai government's media office said on its Twitter account that all opeartions, including any departures, from Dubai International have been halted "until further notice."
Emirates is the Middle East's biggest airline.
Some agencies reported there was an explosion when the plane came crashing down. Footage on social media, claiming to be of the crashed plane, showed thick black smoke billowing from a plane.
This is a video, supposedly of the EK521 crashing.

"There were no announcements for emergency landing . We tried to open the emergency exit. I think all passengers were out (by the time) I left. Only the employees were on when I got out," Sai Bhaskar, a passenger on board the aircraft said.
"We are in the process of opening our customer assistance line and will share these details soon but at this stage we have no further information on what may have caused the accident. Our priority remains with the passengers and crew involved," the airline said.
"We are expecting a 4-hour network wide delay, more information will be available on the Emirates website and social media channels," it added.
The aircraft involved in the accident is a Boeing 777-300 that was delivered in March 2003.
(With inputs from agencies)