'Rare' oxygen bottle blast holed Qantas jet: probe

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the "forceful rupture" of one of the aircraft's emergency oxygen cylinders had punched a large hole in the Boeing 747's fuselage, causing rapid depressurisation of the cabin.

Passengers had to use oxygen masks which dropped from the ceiling while the captain immediately brought the aircraft down to 10,000 feet and made an emergency landing at Manila International Airport.

None of the 369 passengers and crew was injured.

"The investigation found no record of any other related instances of aviation oxygen cylinder rupture -- civil or military," the ATSB said in its final report into the July 2008 incident.

"Given the widespread and long-term use of this type of cylinder in aerospace applications, it was clear that this occurrence was a very rare event."

The explosion, about an hour into the flight to Melbourne, was so forceful it blew a two-metre wide hole in the plane's body which had debris, wiring and cargo protruding from it at the time of landing.