Crews work to extinguish a fire on Emirates flight EK521 after it was involved in an accident. Credit:Twitter/@apaspo1957 Fourteen other people were admitted to hospitals with minor or moderate injuries. Those on board were mostly from India, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, Emirates announced. Videos and photographs on social media showed the plane sliding on its belly and a huge burst of flame erupting from it. Footage showed the plane slowly grinding to a halt on the tarmac as smoke began to rise, with one engine dragging behind the plane's right wing.

An Emirates plane caught fire after making a crash-landing at Dubai airport. Credit:Twitter/@brendanoneal Another video, filmed from the airport's terminal, showed an explosion on the plane's right-hand side after it appeared to have stopped. Later footage showed the top of the aircraft had been completely burnt away along the length of the fuselage, with damage extending down to the passenger windows and appearing to have destroyed the roof of the cockpit. The Boeing 777 was significantly damaged by the blaze, losing much of the top of the plane. Credit:AP The plane's right engine was torn away from its usual position under the wing.

A firefighter, Jassim Essa al-Baloushi, died while attempting to extinguish the blaze on the tarmac, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said. He praised the firefighter for his courage and sacrifice. The departures board at Sydney Airport on Wednesday night, showing cancelled flights to Dubai. Credit:Ben Cahir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and Sheikh Ahmed's nephew, said on his Twitter account: "We offer our condolences to the family and friends of the martyr of the nation, firefighter Jassim Essa al-Baloushi. We ask God to grant his family and his friends with patience and solace." The Aviation Herald, a respected independent website monitoring air accidents, said the plane was on its final approach to Dubai's runway when the crew announced they were aborting their landing to "go around" from a low height. A "go around" is a routine procedure for which pilots are well trained.

"The aircraft however did not climb, but after retracting the gear touched down on the runway and burst into flames," The Aviation Herald said. The publication cited air traffic control recordings that indicated the aircraft had performed a normal initial approach and no priority or emergency was declared. Some passengers also said the wheels were not down when it landed and they evacuated. According to specialist aviation weather reports, at the time of the accident, temperatures at Dubai International Airport were up to 49 degrees Celsius. Wind shear - a potentially hazardous phenomenon involving sudden and unpredictable changes in wind direction or speed - was indicated on the airport's runways, Reuters reported. Both the airline and aircraft have a solid safety record. It is the first time an aircraft operated by Emirates has been damaged beyond repair since the carrier was founded in the 1980s.

The crash is nonetheless a blow to the Dubai carrier weeks after it was voted the world's top airline by Skytrax at the Farnborough Airshow, taking the crown from rival Qatar Airways. Sheikh Ahmed said authorities were still investigating the incident. He said the crash-landing was not caused by any security breach. The airport was initially closed, but the government of Dubai confirmed it had reopened about 7pm local time. One passenger, Sharon Maryam Sharji, said the accident was "really terrifying". "As we were landing there was smoke coming out in the cabin," she said.

"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." Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said the Australian consulate in Dubai was "urgently seeking to contact any Australians affected by the emergency landing". At the airport, a man waiting for relatives who were on the flight said he had spoken to them by phone. "They said they're safe and all right, but that they felt a great panic as the plane was on fire," the man said. "I'll be comfortable when I see they are safe."

The plane had entered service in 2003, had undergone maintenance in 2015 and the United Arab Emirates pilot had more than 7000 hours of flying experience, according to the airline. Flights from Sydney to Dubai, including the codeshared Emirates EK413 and Qantas flight QF8413, were cancelled on Wednesday night following the crash. The flights had been due to depart at 9.10pm. However, Emirates flights EK405 and EK407 which departed from Melbourne did not appear to be affected, with both expected to land at Dubai in the early hours of Thursday morning. DFAT updated its travel advice to Dubai on Wednesday night, advising Australians that the international airport had been "temporarily closed down following an emergency landing".

"Travellers should check with their airline or tour operator for latest information on delays and the resumption of normal flight schedules," the update said. "We continue to advise Australians to exercise normal safety precautions in the UAE." Loading More than 20 outgoing flights from Dubai International Airport were cancelled following the crash, Emirates said. with Reuters