Qantas passengers tell of faulty oxygen masks

Jul 27, 2008, 2:49 GMT

Sydney - Passengers on a Qantas jumbo jet that was forced to land in Manila said Sunday that lives were put at risk because oxygen masks failed to deploy or turned out to be faulty.

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

Saunders was aboard QF30 from Hong Kong to Melbourne when the 17- year-old Boeing 747-438 blew a hole in its side on Friday and plummeted towards the South China Sea 9,000 metres below.

'A guy just went into a panic and smashed the whole panel off the ceiling to get to the mask,' Saunders said. 'The kids were screaming and flailing. Their cheeks and lips were turning blue from lack of oxygen.'

Another of the 346 passengers, Paula Madejon, said she had to share her mask with two others and that in the row behind her no one had a mask.

The paper reported that a source close to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said oxygen cylinders bursting was the likely cause of the blast that punctured the fuselage. The cylinders were stored in the exact location of the explosion and there were no signs of a fire.

A report from the Manila International Airport Authority said an initial investigation revealed there had been an 'explosive decompression' but did not speculate on the cause.

Since its establishment in 1920, Australia's national carrier has never lost a jet to an accident. Claims that oxygen masks malfunctioned - some because the elastic had weathered with age - are an embarrassment to the airline.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said reports that rust caused the fuselage to break away should be discounted. He said the plane had undergone checks in 2004, 2006 and earlier this year, all in Australia.

Passenger Beverley Doors confirmed to Australia's ABC Radio that not all passengers had oxygen masks.

'When the oxygen came down, some didn't come down,' she said. 'Ours didn't come down, and my husband just about went out to it because he didn't have any oxygen for about three minutes.'