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DHL cargo plane suffers nose up in Abu Dhabi, probe on

Workers may have offloaded the cargo in the front, without offloading goods at the rear as well, leading to an imbalance.

A DHL cargo Airbus aircraft had its nose up while offloading cargo at Abu Dhabi International Airport on April 1.

According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft, Airbus A300-600F, operating cargo flight DHX520 from Lahore (Pakistan) to Abu Dhabi, had its tail on the ground and nose up while workers offloaded the cargo.

“I could see the plane’s nose up into the sky and its tail crashed on the ground during offloading. I’m sure the workers offloaded cargo in the front, leaving out the rear, which caused the incident. Normally, both front and rear cargo on a plane is simultaneously removed to keep a balance, but in this case, the front load was offloaded first,” said N.M., an employee at the airport.

When contacted, an official at DHL Express confirmed the nose up incident of the cargo plane and said an investigation was underway to conclude what caused it and action would be taken against those responsible for this.

“We can confirm that an Airbus A300-600F aircraft, operating flight DHX520 from Lahore to Abu Dhabi by a DHL airline (European Air Transport) suffered a nose up incident during the offloading process at Abu Dhabi International airport on April 1,” Mohamed Sheiha, DHL Marketing Communications Manager told Khaleej Times.

“As a result, the tail of the aircraft has lowered to the ground. We are investigating the circumstances along with the appointed handling agent. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident. DHL is liaising with the airport and relevant authorities in order to lift the aircraft to its proper position and assess the damage. We will also be conducting a thorough investigation with our aviation partners into the adherence to our aviation safety and security procedures,” he added.

nissar@khaleejtimes.com