The exact circumstances of the accident, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from India with 300 people on board, were not immediately clear. Video clips circulated on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the centre of the plane, which was on ground. Its fuselage appeared to be lying on the runway with escape slides opened.
Shaji Kochikutty, who was on board the plane with his wife and three daughters, recounted surviving the "near disaster". "We are grateful to be alive. What more can we ask for?" the Dubai-based businessman said, speaking to weekly newspaper XPRESS.
Emirates said all passengers and crew on board flight EK521 from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai were safe. Emirates chief executive officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said 13 people had to be hospitalised, most of them for minor injuries.
The director general of the General Civil Aviation Authority, Saif al-Suwaidi, said in a statement that "one of the firefighters lost his life while saving the lives of the others".
Sheikh Ahmed said the pilot was an Emirati with more than 7,000 hours of flight time and the aircraft had "all necessary inspection checks" before take-off. There were 282 passengers and 18 crew members on board -- 226 of whom were Indians, 24 Britons and 11 Emirati nationals.
While resuming operations later, Dubai International said its capacity was still restricted and it was operating with one runway.
Emirates is the largest single operator of the Boeing 777, as well as the Airbus A380 superjumbo, and expanded its fleet to 250 aircraft last year.
On July 26, an Emirates Boeing 777-300 aircraft heading for Maldives made an emergency landing in Mumbai because of a "technical fault".
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