Video: As smoke fills Emirates plane, Kerala passengers waste time taking hand bags

Dubai: Minutes after an Emirates plane crash-landed on its belly before coming to an half and bursting up into flames, some of the passengers in the flight were witnessed looking for their hand luggage, even as the plane crew tried to evacuate them from the aircraft.

'Laptop, laptop, leave everything but take the laptop,' a passenger was heard shouting as the crew members requested people to use the emergency parachutes to flee.

A video shot by an amateur from inside the plane shows how the passengers ignored warning and evacuation signs by the airplane crew and tried to reach their belongings, despite being an emergency.

Moments later, the aircraft burst into flames in which a local firefighter lost his life.

Before the wrecked aircraft caught fire, hundreds of passengers fled the airliner, resulting in a four-hour shutdown of the busy airport.

The exact circumstances of the accident, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from India with 300 people on board, were not immediately clear.

Video clips circulated on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the centre of the plane, which was on ground. Its fuselage appeared to be lying on the runway with escape slides opened.

Dubai is the world's largest air hub in terms of international passengers, and is the base for Emirates, from where it serves more than 153 destinations. In 2013, Dubai opened a smaller second airport, Al-Maktoum International.

Emirates is the largest single operator of the Boeing 777, as well as the Airbus A380 superjumbo, and expanded its fleet to 250 aircraft last year.