A Qatar Airways Airbus A350 flight bound for Doha was diverted to Karachi on Monday after the crew received an indication of smoke in the cargo hold.
The Airbus A350-900, with registration A7-ALZ, was operating flight QR579 from Delhi to Doha with 283 passengers and 12 crew members on board. According to Avherald, the A350 was en route at 40,000 feet about 160nm north-northwest of Karachi when the crew noticed a cargo smoke indication.
The crew then declared an emergency and decided to divert to Karachi, where the emergency services inspected the aircraft. The aircraft landed some 33 minutes later at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Passengers disembarked the aircraft rapidly via mobile stars and were taken to the terminal. The runway at Karachi Airport was closed for around 2.5 hours.
Emergency services identified evidence of heat and fire in one of the containers. However, the actual cause of the fire is still unknown. The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan has opened an investigation into the occurrence.
“The incident is currently under investigation, and a relief flight is being arranged to transport passengers onwards to Doha. We apologize for the inconvenience to our passengers who will be assisted with their onward travel plans.”
Qatar Airways
Passengers of flight QR579 continued their journey on a replacement A350-900, with registration A7-ALK. The replacement aircraft landed in Doha as flight QR3139 with a delay of around 9 hours.
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If it was a lithium ion battery fire, it may be serious for the airline as I thought that it was illegal to ship them in passenger planes.
It is certainly not allowed for a passenger to put them in their checked baggage. There’s lots of dangerous items made very clear not to carry or stow in baggage. But unfortunately most people are oblivious to the dangers and don’t care. They would care if their aircraft crashed into the sea after a serious fire, but they’d never know they caused it!
A potentially catastrophic event prevented. Any fire on board is very, very serious. Well done for the crew getting the flight on the ground as soon as possible.
From first impressions it appears the smoke is emanating from a passenger baggage container. The volume of smoke indicates a fairly advanced fire in this container.
It could be a L-Ion battery self combusting or other flammable material/s in someone’s luggage caused this.
Highlights the importance of vigilance on behalf of passengers and airport staff in ensuring no dangerous items are put into a cargo hold.
Everyone on board could have died if this had happened over open oceans away from any diversion airport, or if there had been many L-ion batteries in the one container.