Melbourne, Aug. 29 : An exploding oxygen tank forced the emergency landing of a Qantas jet in Manila after it blew a hole in the fuselage, air safety investigators have found.

According to news. com. au, the tank failed and burst, blasting through the cabin floor from a storage area between business and economy class seats on a Hong Kong to Melbourne flight last month.

The website quoted a preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as saying that investigators are yet to determine why the tank exploded, almost two months after the July 5 incident.

They could not rule out such an incident occurring again.

Safety investigators said passengers and crew were extremely lucky not to have been injured by the exploding oxygen tank.

All 346 passengers and 19 crew aboard the flight escaped injury when the Boeing 747-400 made the emergency landing after the mid-air explosion.

The aircraft involved in the Manila incident was repairable at a cost of less than 10 million Australian dollars and would be back in service in November 2008. (ANI)