Two people have been taken to hospital by ambulance after a Qantas Link plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Perth Airport on Friday morning.
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Passengers and crew on board the Fokker 100 flight from Newman were evacuated by emergency slide, with four fire trucks and federal police surrounding the aircraft after it landed.
Mining worker Zac Conlon from Bunbury was on board the flight and described his experience to Radio 6PR.
"We touched down on the runway and we veered right - at that time the Captain announced the crew had to get to their points, had to go to their spots. Probably two seconds after they they called out saying evacuate, evacuate - we weren't told what it was, we had to jump out and then down the slides off to the grass and wait for further instructions," he said.
"It was a long experience. 80% of us have just come off working on night shifts working in the mines so we've been up since four o'clock yesterday and we're still up. We were told that the mechanic or the pilot had some sort of fault - didn't actually say what it was. A couple on the plane heard and smelt fumes but that could have just been their minds playing on them.
"It was pretty calm, because there was no fire or smoke no one had any reason to be concerned. At the moment I was off night shift so I really wanted to get off that plane and get to my car."
WA Police said the evacuation was sparked by fumes in the cockpit just before midday.
Qantas, in a statement, said 102 passengers were evacuated safely, however WAtoday understands two people on board the flight have been taken to Royal Perth Hospital by ambulance.
At least one of the people was believed to be suffering from smoke inhalation.
"All passengers and crew are safe and accounted for," Qantas' statement read.
"No emergency landing was requested by the pilots, however emergency services are in attendance as a normal precaution.
"There were 97 passengers and five crew onboard."
The plane was towed from the runway on Friday afternoon.
We confirm that QF1623 has landed safely at Perth Airport with all crew and passengers safe and accounted for https://t.co/1Lefu3J7P7— Qantas (@Qantas) September 23, 2016
The incident comes on the same morning on which a Qantas plane en route to Melbourne had to return to Sydney due to landing gear problems.
Authorities say a QANTAS plane reported fumes in the cockpit around 11.48am, 102ppl onboard have been evacuated safely at Perth airport.— News Talk 6PR 882 (@6PR) September 23, 2016
