Emirate’s plane crash: Dubai airport is now operational

Dubai International Airport resumed its operations after being closed for four hours after a problematic landing of a Boeing 777 belonging to the Emirates Company, announced the government's information office, according to AFP.

All 282 passengers and 18 crew on the Boeing 777 from India were "accounted for and safe", the airline said. "We can confirm that there are no fatalities among our passengers and crew," the airline said. Emirates also tweeted that it was an "operational incident" but said there was no further information as to the cause. Flights to and from the airport have resumed, the Government media office said, after services were suspended for several hours.

UAE Civil Aviation announced that an investigation is going to be initiated in order to determine the causes of the accident 'in collaboration with the Emirates and Dubai International Airport'.

In images that were broadcasted on social networks one can see flames in the plane and columns of black smoke. The plane was landed on its belly and slides were used to safely evacuate the passengers. Two hours after the accident occurred, the Government Information Office announced that the fire was brought under control.

Passenger Sharon Maryam Sharji declared for ABC News that it was a "really terrifying" experience. "As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin. People were screaming and we had a very hard landing. We left by going down the emergency slides and as we were leaving on the runway we could see the whole plane catch fire; it was horrifying."

Emirates stated that there were 226 Indian nationals on board the direct flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai.