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A former New York policeman told last night how he rescued passengers on board the stricken MCQ #1 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts .

"As the plane approached the MCQ #2 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts , I heard thunder," Joemy Tam Chung-keung, 39, said.

"I saw a woman engulfed in flames. She was unconscious on the ground. I told the firefighters to go and help her."

Survivors spoke of being engulfed by fire as they dangled from their seats, held by their MCQ #3 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts .

They said they heard an explosion from somewhere outside as the plane skidded on the wet tarmac for a few seconds before it came to a standstill.

Mr Tam, a police officer in New York for nine years, tried to calm his fellow travellers. He said he helped release them from their seats and open the plane's doors.

"People started to scream and look around to check their children and companions," he said after leaving Princess Margaret Hospital.

"People were dangling in the air, crying and screaming. Outside the window, fire came all the way from the front to the back."

Although injured himself, Mr Tam took control inside the MCQ #4 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts .

"I told them, 'Don't scream, I'll handle the situation' in Chinese and English. Two women were unconscious and I gave one of them resuscitation but I couldn't get a response.

"The cabin was smoky, smelling of gas. One woman was burned but conscious, so I asked a MCQ #5 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts member to give her some ice."

Mr Tam, who suffered bruises to his hands and feet, said there seemed to be chaos outside as well as inside.

"It's very hard to move in the narrow cabin. There was no announcement broadcast.

"I heard rescue teams talking on walkie-talkies directing people to come to help. It sounded like they were not familiar with the airport.

"I managed to find a torch in the cabin, which was dark. "Of course I was shocked but I had no time to be scared because of my training as a cop," he said.

Many passengers were able to escape down MCQ #6 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts and run to safety, while rescuers pulled a girl, 15, from what she thought was a hole in the plane.

Her uncle, construction worker Ho Chi-shing, 43, said the teenager had called him 30 minutes after she was rescued to tell him she and his elder sister, 48, were in Queen Mary Hospital with injuries to their foreheads and legs.

"She said the plane made an MCQ #7 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts . She was pulled out from 'a hole' in the side of the aircraft and saw fire all around her," he said.

Other relatives rushed to Chek Lap Kok and waited for news at the nearby Regal Airport Hotel.

One woman said her husband, son and mother-in-law were on board and although she was relieved to hear her son, 14, was unhurt and the others only slightly injured, she criticised the handling of the disaster by staff at the MCQ #8 emergency stop jet runway emergency chutes cabin crew arrival hall safety belts .

"There was no briefing at all. I'm with two young children and could not leave them to find my son. Someone should have been here to tell me what to do."

Angry tour guide Sardy Tong Pak-chun said he had been given no news about a group he was due to pick up comprising more than 80 Portuguese engineers and their families from Lisbon.