DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- An Emirates airlines flight from India with 300 people on board crash-landed at Dubai's main airport Wednesday, sending black smoke into the air and halting all flights at the Middle East's busiest airport.
A firefighter died while working to extinguish to the resulting blaze, but none of the passengers or crew on board was killed.
The crash was the most serious ever for the airline, which has grown at a breakneck pace over the past three decades and turned its hometown of Dubai into a major long-haul international air hub. It was the second major air disaster for a Dubai government-backed airline in less than five months.
Speaking to reporters in Dubai, Emirates Group CEO and chairman Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said 10 people were hospitalized after the crash, but he stressed that all passengers were safely evacuated before the plane burst into a fireball.
Emirates said the crash happened around 12:45 p.m. United Arab Emirates time as Flight EK521 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. Airline officials confirmed that "all passengers and crew are accounted for and safe," but gave no details about what caused the crash.
"We do not have ... all the information. Thankfully there [were] no fatalities among our passengers and crew," Al Maktoum said in a video statement. "Our thoughts are with everyone involved."
The Boeing 777-300 was carrying 282 passengers and 18 crew members from 20 countries, according to the airline. Passengers included 226 Indians, 24 Britons, 11 Emiratis, and six each from the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Airline officials refused to answer journalists' questions about the crash.
A problem with the plane's landing gear appeared to have at least been a contributing factor in the crash. Video taken by a passenger on a different flight showed that the plane tilted to its right side and careened on its belly as thick smoke poured from it. The right wing appeared to have been torn off the fuselage during the crash.
After the crash, the airline predicted an eight-hour delay in operations across its network, disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers during the busy summer vacation season. The Dubai Media Office said flights resumed at the airport a little before 7 p.m.
"Our main priority at this time is the safety and well-being of all involved, and full cooperation is being extended to the authorities and emergency services managing the situation," Emirates said.
Passengers escaped the burning plane by using inflatable slides. At one point after the plane came to a stop, part of the aircraft exploded into an orange fireball.
By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze, the roof of the plane had been destroyed, and scorching extended from the cockpit all the way to the tail.
Director General of Residency and Foreigner Affairs at Dubai airport, Mohammed al-Marri, told The Associated Press that some of the passengers had their passports with them, but others lost their passports during the quick exit from the aircraft.
Using the flight's passenger manifest, al-Marri said, officials were able to facilitate the passengers' entry into the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai resident Girisankal Gangadhakan said his wife called him after the plane landed to tell him that she and their three children had been involved in an accident but were safe.
"I was shocked when I heard about that," he said.
The Boeing 777 left Thiruvananthapuram at 10:19 a.m. and was to land at 12:50 p.m., according to Emirates.
Thiruvananthapuram is the capital of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. Many blue-collar migrant workers employed in the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf nations are from Kerala, which is a popular beach-side tourist destination.
T.P. Seetharam, India's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said Indian diplomats had been sent to the airport and had met with many of the passengers.
"Many of them are in shock after such an event, and there may be minor bruises," he said in a telephone interview from Abu Dhabi.
Dubai International is by far the Mideast's busiest airport, and is the world's busiest air hub in terms of international passenger traffic. It handled some 78 million passengers last year.
Fast-growing Emirates is the region's biggest carrier. The government-backed airline has a good safety record, with no other major accidents recorded since its founding in 1985.
The 777 model is one of the workhorses of Emirates' fleet. The airline operates more than 120 of the twin-engine planes, more than any other airline.
The Emirates crash follows the crash of a FlyDubai 737-800 jetliner in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in March that killed all 62 onboard. The two airlines operate independently of each other, though they share the same chairman and are both ultimately owned by the government of Dubai.
Information for this article was contributed by Fay Abuelgasim, Aya Batrawy, Jon Gambrell and Tim Sullivan of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/04/2016