Air bottle did burst in Qantas plane drama

Passengers struggled for oxygen Part of an oxygen bottle burst into the cabin of a Qantas 747 forced into an emergency landing, investigators have revealed. The exploding bottle partly moved a door lock and may have blown a large hole in the side of the plane, which almost suffered a disaster during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. The Qantas 747-400 suffered a loss of cabin pressure last Friday, forcing the plane to make an emergency descent from 29,000ft to 10,000ft before landing safely in Manila in the Philippines. Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators have been examining oxygen bottles in the plane's hold. They today said part of one bottle had blown through the floor of the passenger compartment and moved a door handle towards the open position. ATSB director Julian Walsh said: "There was never any... [read full story]