Oxygen masks faulted on Australian jet: reports

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — Oxygen masks failed to work properly when a Qantas jumbo jet plunged thousands of metres after a hole appeared in the side of the plane in mid-air, passengers said in reports published Sunday.

Some said they were forced to share a mask when the Qantas Boeing 747 ran into trouble, while others panicked when they failed to open.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the gaping hole was punched in the fuselage of the plane Friday, forcing it into an emergency landing in the Philippines capital Manila.

"The elastic was so old that it had deteriorated. I was trying to get my passport, and every time I got my passport the mask fell off and I started to pass out," architect David Saunders told The Sunday Age paper in Melbourne.

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