Firefighters described yesterday how they battled to save screaming and injured passengers from a dark, overturned cabin filled with lethal oil fumes and jammed by scattered luggage after Sunday's crash.
Speaking for the first time about the drama, they recalled the terrifying chaos they found inside China Airlines Flight CI642.
'We could barely open our eyes when we climbed aboard - the cabin was filled with gas fumes burning our eyes,' said principal fireman Chan Chiu-ming, 49, who was among the first officers at the scene.
'An injured young man led me to his mother in the tail. She was strapped to her seat and hung upside down. She was in extreme pain and screaming - an arm was broken and we just couldn't find the buckle to release her seat belt.
'We finally released her and she dropped on top of me. We carried her out.' Lau Wai-yan, who as the airport contingent's assistant divisional officer was the most senior officer at the scene in the crucial first four minutes, recalled a giant overturned plane engulfed in flames, leaving a trail of fire 10 metres long.
'We had to quickly identify which fire sources were closest to the plane engines and therefore the most dangerous and threatening to passengers,' he said.
