NEWS: Spanish airliner makes emergency landing in Portugal, page 1

An Iberia Airbus A340 was forced to make an emergency landing at Lisbon International airport when the plane filled with smoke. The landing forced the closure of the airport for four hours. The flight that was scheduled to fly from Madrid to Mexico, reported that 9 people were injured using the emergency evacuation slide. Investigators have launched a probe, but have ruled out a fire starting in the hold.

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LISBON (AFP) - A Spanish airliner made an emergency landing at Lisbon international airport in the early hours of Friday after the cabin filled with smoke, forcing the airport to close for four hours, an airport official said.

The Iberia aircraft, an Airbus A340, was flying from Madrid to Mexico, and nine people were injured, one of them seriously, while going down an evacuation slide, a spokesman for airport management company ANA told Lusa news agency.

In Madrid, a spokeswoman for the airline told AFP that five of the more than 300 people on board were slightly injured on leaving the aircraft, with one woman breaking her ankle.

According to investigators no fire could possibly have broken out in the hold but a probe was launched to determine what caused the alert, she added.

The plane carried 288 passengers and 14 crew. Passengers were to leave for Mexico on another Iberia plane in the afternoon.

The emergency landing occurred at around 3:15 am (0315 GMT). The airport, Portugal's busiest, opens for regular air traffic at 6:00 am (0600 GMT).

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It is interesting to note that the emergency landing forced a takeoff delay in Russian President Vladimir Putin�s plane that was due into the airport. The fire reminds me of the same one that took down a Swiss Air MD-11 a few years back. The pilot obviously did the right thing in getting the plane on the ground. It was fairly loaded with over 300 people on board.