WELLINGTON (Xinhua): A Qantas flight from Sydney landed safely at New Zealand's Auckland Airport on Friday after its pilots issued a mayday call triggered by warnings of a possible fire in the aircraft's cargo hold.
Emergency services were alerted at 11.05 am local time after reports of a possible fire on board the Boeing 737, Radio New Zealand reported.
Flight 141 landed safely shortly before midday, and passengers disembarked without incident, authorities said. Sixteen fire trucks and ambulances were on standby as the plane approached Auckland Airport for landing.
Qantas later confirmed in a statement that its pilots had received "intermittent indication about potential fire in the cargo hold" and had followed standard safety procedures, including issuing the mayday alert.
"Preliminary investigations report that there was no fire in the front cargo hold," the airline said, adding that its engineers would inspect the plane to determine the cause.
The incident briefly disrupted operations at Auckland Airport, which advised travellers to expect minor delays to some arriving and departing flights into the afternoon. - Xinhua
