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A plane carrying Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been forced to land during a secret trip to southern Iraq.
Mr Howard was flying to Baghdad after visiting Australian troops serving in southern Iraq.
He was on board an Australian Hercules transport plane when the loading bay began to fill with smoke.
A burning smell seeped into the cockpit and Mr Howard had to put on an emergency gas mask.
The Hercules returned to the airstrip at Talil Airbase and Mr Howard was rushed off the plane, accompanied by his SAS bodyguards.
Fire crews rushed to the scene, but the cause of the smoke was not immediately obvious.
Mr Howard praised the crew of the aircraft for getting it back down quickly and safely.
Asked how he felt as the plane landed, Mr Howard said he was in very good hands.
"I'd rather be in the hands of the RAAF than anybody else in a situation like that - that's my view," he said.
Mr Howard was accompanied on the flight by the chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.
"Essentially the pilots, the crew reacted very well," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
"They turned back immediately, followed the checklist procedures, did a landing and of course came to the end of the runway here and we evacuated the aircraft.
"That's the sensible thing to do in these circumstances.
"I can't fault their actions at all. It all went according to the book. That's what you do when you get smoke inside the aircraft."
- RADIO AUSTRALIA
