An Emirates airline flight traveling from India to Dubai crash-landed at Dubai’s primary airport on Wednesday, with all 300 individuals on board surviving, according to the airline.
One firefighter lost his life while responding to the incident, as stated by the airline’s chairman and CEO. Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum also reported that 10 individuals were hospitalized following the event at Dubai International Airport.
Emirates confirmed that the 282 passengers and 18 crew members were safe and accounted for after the incident, although no further details regarding the occurrence were provided
There were indications of wind shear, or a sudden downdraft, at the airport during the aircraft’s descent, but it remained uncertain whether this had any impact on the situation, as noted by the airline’s CEO later on.
Dubai-based Emirates, recognized as the largest airline in the Middle East, reported that the crash-landing took place at 12:45 p.m. local time as Flight EK521 was approaching from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram.
Social media users reported seeing smoke at the site, and images depicted a plane ablaze on the airport’s runway.
A passenger, Iype Vallikadan, mentioned that the pilot had informed them of an issue with the landing gear as the aircraft approached Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and that an emergency landing would be executed, according to the Associated Press.
Following the landing, the cabin crew opened all emergency exits, and the evacuation of all individuals was completed within minutes, as reported by the news agency.
Among the passengers were six U.S. citizens, as stated by the airline. Additionally, there were 226 individuals from India, 24 from Britain, 11 from the Emirates, six from Saudi Arabia, five from Turkey, and four from Ireland.
Two individuals each hailed from Australia, Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, and Thailand, while one each came from Croatia, Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, the Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, and Tunisia
Boeing, the American aircraft manufacturer, announced that a technical team is ready to assist in the investigation alongside the National Transportation Safety Board.
Saif Mohamed Al Suwaidi, the director general of Dubai’s General Civil Aviation Authority, tweeted that the agency has activated the investigation team collaborating with Emirates Airlines and Dubai Airport. He stated, “Our primary concern at this moment is the safety and well-being of all passengers and cabin crew.”
Founded in 1985, Emirates has established a strong safety record. Dubai International Airport is the busiest in the region, accommodating 78 million passengers last year.
The airport reported that other flights experienced delays of approximately six hours and operations resumed shortly before 7 p.m. local time.
When Hannah Glass decided to eat a homemade brownie, she hadn’t known that days later, her parents would be picking up her cremated remains. The college student had always been cautious about her peanut allergy but there was something
hidden in the sweet treat that killed her after only two bites.
Glass had turned 19 only two days before.
A community in Wisconsin is mourning the heartbreaking loss of Hannah Glass, a bright and compassionate freshman at Maranatha Baptist University who tragically lost her life due to an unexpected allergic reaction to a brownie.
On November 5, the young woman, who turned 19 two days before, had a violent reaction to a brownie she received from a friend. The teenager had a known allergy to peanuts, and was usually careful, but she was unaware the sweet treat reportedly contained roasted peanut flour, an ingredient used as a gluten-free alternative.
“The second bite, she knew something was wrong,” Hannah’s father, David Glass, told WISN. The dad then explained her friend brought his daughter the brownie from a women’s group on campus and while the treat was made with peanut flour to accommodate gluten-free students, it didn’t consider those with severe peanut allergies.
“We believe because this product contained roasted peanut flour, separate from oily peanut butter, that masked this,” continued David, who along with Hannah’s mother, Janean, raced about 45 minutes from their home in Milton, Wisconsin, to the school residence in Watertown.
Hannah’s reaction was aggressive and immediate. Her father shares that she had thrown up, welled up with hives, and managed to find some relief with Benadryl.
But when she crawled up to her top bunk to rest, her condition changed dramatically.
“When Hannah rolled on her side, the anaphylaxis reaction that we had not seen before hit incredibly hard. This caused her to gasp for breath, leading to the collapsing of the lung, further exacerbating the situation,” the grieving dad writes in the Facebook post that he shared November 11.
That was when Hannah climbed down the ladder from her bed and lost consciousness “part way down” – before her EpiPen was administered.
“I picked Hannah up…and carried her outside to wait for the ambulance to arrive,” the father penned. “She was completely unresponsive, and I was incredibly helpless.”
Paramedics arrived and worked tirelessly to revive her, but Hannah’s heart had stopped for four minutes. She was immediately rushed to Watertown Hospital, before being transferred to Froedtert Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator.
Her family watched helplessly as doctors fought to save her life, but the damage was severe.
“The majority of her brain was unmistakably, seriously, critically, and without the life-sustaining measures in place, TERMINALLY damaged,” David writes om Facebook of the brain damage sustained after having several seizures, which led to “severe brain swelling.”
“There were no conversations of quality of life or anything like that. This was only life and death!”
Despite the tireless efforts of medical professionals, Hannah’s brain suffered critical damage that left her without hope of recovery.
Before Hannah’s final goodbye on November 10, 2024, she was honored with a traditional “Honor Walk,” a touching tribute as she was taken to the operating room for organ donation.
About 300 people lined the walls of the hallway for the walk, her family by her side until their “final goodbye.”
“It seemed like an endless walk, yet it was also going too quickly,” David shared.
“We went and picked up Hannah’s cremated remains. It was and is a strange mix of emotions. There is still a strong sense of disbelief,” David writes in a November 22, 2024 Facebook post. “Having now, this physical, tangible, memorial of her physical life and body is nice, in one sense, because we now have something to see and to ‘hold on to,’ but it is also very sad because this is certainly not the same relationship that we had before. But, then again, it is good to have her home.”
Now her parents are reminding people with food allergies to “Always be aware. Make sure your EpiPens are up to date,” David said.
Hannah’s organs have already saved four people who desperately needed lifesaving transplants.
Hannah Glass’s story is a poignant reminder of how fragile life can be and the importance of food allergy awareness. Her memory lives on not only through the lives she saved but in the hearts of those who knew and loved her.