Sydney  - The amazing run of technical problems at Qantas Airways Ltd continued Tuesday with a clanger in the hangar at its Melbourne maintenance base.

Qantas engineering general manager David Cox said two Boeing 747s had "come into contact with each other during towing this morning" and that "both aircraft did sustain some damage and the extent of this is being assessed."

One of the bashed jumbos was in for extensive repairs after an emergency landing in the Philippines capital Manila July 25. An oxygen cylinder exploded, punching a
3-metre hole in its fuselage during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne.

Dozens of passengers aboard a flight from Singapore to Perth were injured last month when an Airbus A330 with 303 passengers aboard nosedived off Australia's west coast.

Recent maintenance-related problems include a Singapore-London flight terminating in the German city of Frankfurt after one of the engines of a 747 developed a rattle and had to be shut down, a faulty rudder delaying a plane from London for 15 hours and an internal flight being forced into an unscheduled landing because ground crew had forgotten to empty its toilet tanks.

Qantas, which has never lost an aircraft in an accident and bills itself as the world's most experienced airline, has been severely embarrassed by the run of misfortune. (dpa)