A Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400, registration B-HOP performing flight CX-270 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Hong Kong (China) with 306 passengers and 20 crew, was enroute near Karaganda (Kazakhstan) about 6 hours into the flight when the crew initiated an emergency descent due to the loss of cabin pressure and passenger oxygen masks were released. The aircraft diverted to Karaganda for a safe landing.
The flight is currently expected to reach Hong Kong with a delay of 23 hours.
Cathay Pacific confirmed the incident reporting, the crew declared emergency and released the passenger oxygen masks following a fault in the cabin pressurization system of the aircraft. Following the landing passengers were served breakfast on board until visa procedures could be completed about 5:40 hours after landing. The passengers were subsequently taken to hotels. A special flight is to depart Karaganda about 22 hours after landing.
The airline had already detected some aging problems with the outflow valve assembly and was in the process of replacing the outflow valve assemblies across the entire 747 fleet.
