Terror as Qantas plane plunges 20,000ft

Passengers on a Qantas jet en route from London to Melbourne have told of their terror when their plane was ripped open at 30,000 feet. A four-metre hole was left in the side of the Boeing 747-400 jet after a faulty door caused the fuselage to pull away.

The plane plunged 20,000ft and oxygen masks fell from the ceiling as the pilot made an emergency descent to Manila. One passenger, Dr June Kane, told Australia's ABC Television that passengers had been startled by an "incredible boom" as the door caused an explosive depressurisation. "There was wood and newspapers flying past... I thought we were going to plunge to our deaths."

Debra Manchester, a passenger from Buckinghamshire, described the "deadly silence" that followed. "There was still debris all around our feet but we all started to feel a bit safer when we could take our masks off," she said.

The Boeing 747 had just taken off from a stopover in Hong Kong when the incident happened. All 350 passengers and crew are understood to have escaped injury.