Upon landing, the passengers had to get off the aircraft through both emergency and normal exits, with some of them using chutes to leave the cabin which had become filled with smoke, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"Qantas flight 575 from Sydney to Perth returned to Sydney shortly after takeoff due to a hydraulic issue", Qantas Airways said in a statement.
Statement from @Qantas about #QF575. Passengers had to evacuate using emergency slides at Sydney Airport, after their flight was turned around mid-air. Some on board say smoke filled the cabin. @10NewsFirstSyd pic.twitter.com/J7Aev0Blco
— Amber Cunneen (@ambercunneen) December 15, 2019
Passengers took to Twitter to express their views of the incident.
Just had to evacuate my flight to Perth after engineering issues. Everyone had to exit the plane via slide onto Sydney tarmac after the cabin filled with smoke and the captain screamed evacuate. Terrifying.
— Ally Kemp (@politic_ally) December 14, 2019
@Qantas well that was fun, turning out to be an eventful holiday. Cabin crew were fantastic pic.twitter.com/3Dki1gnXrq
— evilhomer (@EVILH0MER) December 14, 2019
According to SBS news, the captain informed passengers about the problem and ordered the evacuation.
Fire and emergency vehicles were on-site to attend to the scene.
