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------------------------------------- Melbourne passenger Sarah Lucas she was shocked to see a gash of between 1.8 and 2.4 metres where the wing intersects with the plane's fuselage. Ms Lucas, who was flying with her 19-year-old sister Olivia, said she initially thought a door had opened mid-flight until she saw the torn metal.

"We were in the business class cabin and we heard a loud bang. We thought one of the doors had become open because there was a lot of papers rushing through the cabin ... it felt like a gush of wind," Ms Lucas said. "The plane began to fall quite quickly and then it levelled out."

Ms Lucas said the plane seemed to lose pressure for about five minutes before stabilising. Oxygen masks had dropped from the ceiling but passengers had remained calm and quiet, she said. "I didn't realise how bad it was until we got down," she said.

"I thought maybe the door had somehow come off, that's all I could really think of. "When we landed there were a lot of people who rushed up to see the (right-hand) side of the plane so I knew there was something on that side and then we walked around to have a look."

She said the pilot had made announcements to flight crew throughout the incident but passengers had not been told what had happened. "We didn't really know what was going on," she said. "Most people were just sitting there, not saying anything, everyone was just quiet."

Manila airport operations officer Ding Lima told local radio the plane lost cabin pressure shortly after takeoff from Hong Kong and the pilot radioed for an emergency landing. "There is a big hole in the belly of the aircraft near the right wing about three metres in diameter," he said.

"Upon disembarkation, there were some passengers who vomited. You can see in their faces that they were really scared." During the emergency part of the plane's flooring gave way, exposing some of the cargo in the hold, he said. Part of the ceiling also collapsed. Melbourne woman June Kane, who was on the plane, told ABC radio that baggage was hanging out of the hole in the plane. "You assume that there's a few bags that may have gone missing," she said.

Kim Jeffers said her husband Jason rang her from Manila to say that he had landed safely after the mid-air drama. Mrs Jeffers said her husband Jason "heard a loud bang like something falling over," Mrs Jeffers said.

Ms Lucas' father, Alistair Lucas, said his daughters had told him the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Melbourne father Alastair Lucas said his two daughters who were on the flight who told him the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon confirmed a B747-400 had been diverted after a loss of cabin pressure and landed in Manila about 11.15am.

He said inspections on the ground revealed a hole in the plane's fuselage that was being inspected by engineers. Mr Dixon said all 346 passengers and 19 crew had disembarked normally and there were no reports of injuries.

He said the flight crew had performed emergency procedures after oxygen masks dropped. "The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority have been notified of the incident and Qantas is sending its own engineers to Manila," Mr Dixon said. "Qantas has provided all passengers with accommodation and a replacement aircraft has been arranged."

Mrs Jeffers said her husband had described crowds of people watching the plane land safely and filming the descent with their mobile phones. The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau's director of aviation safety investigations, Julian Walsh, said the plane dropped nearly 20,000 feet before flying to Manila.

He said the plane was flying at 29,000 feet and was about 200 nautical miles from Manila when it experienced "rapid decompression". "As a result of a rupture in the fuselage, a hole, the oxygen masks dropped down, as would happen in a decompression, and (there was) a rapid descent to 10,000 feet," he said. "Once the aircraft was at 10,000 feet it diverted to Manila where it landed uneventfully and ... passengers disembarked normally."

Mr Walsh said there had been no reports of injuries. He said arrangements were being made to send aviation investigators to the Philippines.

Mr Walsh refused to speculate on what could have caused the hole. - with agencies