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PERTH - Passengers aboard an international Qantas flight today told of their horror as the plane plunged up to 2,000 metres over Western Australia, hurling people around the cabin, seriously injuring 20 of them.
The Airbus A330-300,with 303 passengers and a crew of 10 bound from Singapore to Perth, struck what Qantas described as a "sudden change in altitude" north of its destination about 1.30pm (WST) yesterday.
The pilots put out a mayday call shortly before making an emergency landing at Learmonth, about 40km from Exmouth on Western Australia's Gascoyne coast.
WA police said at least 20 passengers and crew aboard QF72 were seriously injured - some with spinal injuries and others with broken bones and lacerations.
They were flown to Perth on five Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft last night and transferred by ambulance to city hospitals.
Up to 20 other passengers were treated for minor injuries.
Ben Cave, of Perth, who was among 280 of the passengers to be flown to Perth on two special flights last night, said he had not been wearing a seat belt and had slammed into the cabin roof when the plane plummeted.
He said for a few seconds he had feared for his life and "saw a bit of a flash before me".
"We had a major fall and another fall shortly after," Mr Cave said.
"I hit the ceiling but I was okay, I only got a few bruises and strains. I just remember seeing that the plane was a mess."
Henry and Doreen Bishop, from Oxford, England and on their first visit to Australia to visit their daughter and grandson, said it was one of the worst experiences of their lives.
"Unfortunately some people who were walking back to the seats were the ones who copped it, as it were, when the overhead came down on them," Mr Bishop said.
"A little lady sitting opposite me hit her head on the roof.
"The crew were extremely good, the captain of course was brilliant to get us down, to take control the way he did, and the cabin crew were absolutely marvellous.
"People were screaming but they cut off any panic that might have started."
He said word spread among the passengers that the aircraft had plunged more than 2,000 metres in a matter of seconds.
"I put it down to life. The Titanic hit an iceberg, we hit an air pocket," he said.
Jim Ford, of Perth, said he thought he was about to die as he watched people being flung around the cabin.
"It was horrendous, absolutely gruesome, terrible, the worst experience of my life," he said.
Andrea Hutchins, 39, of Singapore, said some people appeared to be pinned to the ceiling of the plane or suspended in mid-air.
"The plane was dropping quite quickly so they actually stayed in the air and then they came crashing down," she said.
"It was pretty scary.
"The plane was a mess and there was just crap everywhere. A lot of panels in the ceilings had been damaged by the people that hit them.
"The people who were wearing seat belts, like myself, were okay.
"The people who were standing were the ones who got hurt the most. To be honest think it's a lesson in wearing seat belts."
Kwong Ket, of Perth, said "it all happened in a split second".
"The plane just dropped out of the air, the scene just changed from a tidy cabin into some terrible mess," he said.
"I was strapped in. A few around me did not have seat belts on. They hit the roof and it was really quite nasty."
The Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said today the investigation into the drama could take up to six months, but a preliminary report could be completed within 30 days.
A team from the bureau has flown to Exmouth to examine the plane's black box and cockpit voice recorder.
Neither the ATSB nor Qantas would confirm that air turbulence was responsible.
- AAP
