Investigators probe stricken Qantas jet for clues

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

MANILA (AFP) — Air safety investigators were Saturday searching for clues as to what caused a dramatic mid-air rupture which left a gaping hole in the fuselage of a Qantas plane carrying more than 300 passengers.

Experts were working on the theory that an explosion in the luggage hold or a broken panel caused a fuselage break in the 747 that made an emergency landing in Manila Friday, a source close to the investigation said.

Regardless of the cause, the source said the 365 passengers and crew on the flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne were lucky to be alive after a three metre (10 foot) hole was punched in the jet's belly at 29,000 feet (8,800 metres).

"They were very lucky," the source, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.

"While it is too...