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Passengers on a Qantas flight were reportedly forced to quickly evacuate the plane after the cabin filled with smoke. One traveler took to social media and claimed that the pilot screamed at everyone to evacuate.
The flight turned around and landed back at Sydney airport shortly after takeoff, the Guardian reported. Instead of flying to the original destination of Perth, passengers instead were told to leave the plane via the emergency slides.
Qantas said flight 575 returned to Sydney shortly after takeoff on Sunday morning due to a hydraulic issue.
“Once back at the gate, the captain made the decision to evacuate the aircraft as a precaution and three emergency slides were deployed”
— evilhomer (@EVILH0MER) December 14, 2019
One passenger described the incident on Twitter as “terrifying”.
“Just had to evacuate my flight to Perth after engineering issues. Everyone had to exit the plane via slide onto Sydney tarmac after the cabin filled with smoke and the captain screamed evacuate,”
Another passenger, Sydney mechanic Rahman Akbari, told the Daily Telegraph that the captain appeared calm but it was a “little bit” scary when the crew began yelling “evacuate, evacuate” on the tarmac.
“Initially it was just the smell, we could smell something but after a few minutes this fume starting building up in the cabin,”
Another passenger on the flight, Niamh Champion, shared a similar story according to The Sun.
“And next thing he (pilot) goes, 'evacuate, evacuate, evacuate', like in a calm but firm, loud voice. So instantly everyone jumps off and they're thinking, 'Oh my God. I thought there was smoke, or a fire or, you know, something was happening."
After explaining that she was close to the back of the plane when the incident occurred, she continued, “The hostess opened the door, bang, the chute comes down and everyone starts rushing into the aisle.”
Qantas said engineers were inspecting the aircraft.
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