Update on avherald
CAA spokesman Khaled al-Alkhyeeri said on Jul 29th the captain and first officer are in good health with very minor injuries. Emergency services reached the aircraft within 35 seconds after touch down using half of their agents within 3 minutes thus efficiently confining the fire to the cargo hold.
"The Economic", a Saudi Arabian newspaper in Arabic, cites CAA spokesman Khaled al-Alkhyeeri to have said on Jul 29th, that according to preliminary investigation results there was no fire before touch down. The airplane touched down very hard and veered to the left, the airplane subsequently burst into flames. The Aviation Herald was unable so far to confirm this statement with Saudi Arabia's CAA or otherwise independently verify that statement.
Officials of Riyadh Airport said on Jul 29th, that the crew reported a cargo fire while on approach, emergency services immediately deployed and observed the airplane arrive in thick black smoke before the airplane touched down on the runway..
Yeah... right... 35 seconds - without being prepared due to a prior mayday call - some things don't fit together here...