Passengers were terrified when fires were lit on an Etihad flight from Melbourne.
A dozen passengers have been detained by Abu Dhabi security authorities after multiple fires were lit on board a flight that left Melbourne on Monday night, terrifying passengers for hours.
On Wednesday night, a spokesman for Etihad Airways said no arrests had been made, but that the airline was co-operating fully with the investigation.
The flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Jakarta airport, before arriving four hours late at Abu Dhabi airport, where local police searched passengers.
The plane was also searched, the Etihad spokesman said, and was released shortly after arriving in Abu Dhabi.
According to passengers who contacted Fairfax Media, multiple fires were lit in the plane's toilets.
The series of small fires filled the cabin with smoke, panicking passengers and setting off smoke alarms.
The boyfriend of one passenger told Fairfax Media the plane was only able to stay in Jakarta for a few hours. Against many passengers' wishes, it then continued to Abu Dhabi.
Sarah Jeffery, a passenger on the flight, said said she was "dumbfounded by the risk Etihad took with its passengers' lives by continuing the flight".
"I am appalled by them, and think we are all very lucky to be here. It could have been much worse."
A few hours into the second leg of the flight, smoke was again detected coming from bathrooms.
The cabin crew then locked down all toilets, confined passengers to their seats and stopped serving meals and drinks.
Ms Jeffery said she awoke suddenly to the sounds of a "loud alarm, a flashing red light and rushing crew members".
"I looked and saw flames coming from the bin in the toilet, and two cabin crew members put it out," she said.
"It was very smoky, and it felt like the aircraft had filled with smoke."
She said that while the plane was flying above the Indian Ocean, another fire was ignited while crew members were preparing breakfast.
The staff – who Ms Jeffery said were "very vigilant" during the flight – quickly extinguished the blaze.
"At this point, we were all asked to remain seated, and the toilets couldn't be used," she said.
"Breakfast was not served, which also meant we had only had one drink and a muffin in over 12 hours."
"I was very frightened that we had two more hours before reaching Abu Dhabi, and I actually sent messages to my boyfriend and son telling them how much I loved them, in the hope that if anything happened they would receive them."
Another passenger, Dale Henderson, described how the the fire alarm went off in one of the middle toilets when what is believed to be a cigarette was thrown into a toilet waste bin.
He said a second fire started in the rear toilets and "this time it was a goer, flames and all".
He said the staff were quick to extinguish the flames.
He described how tense the situation was on the aircraft, and how passengers could not believe someone on board would put them in such danger.
Mr Henderson said flight personnel did a "fantastic job with the very bad situation", and that "without their expertise and professionalism, we wouldn't be here".
Norwegian professional golfer Caroline Martens, who was flying home from competing in the Australian Masters golf tournament, told Norwegian radio and television that a fire was started on board "directly while we were above the sea".
"After a few hours I noticed that it smelled like smoke ... but I thought everything was fine and just fell asleep," she said.
"About two hours after I woke up the fire alarm went off again."
After the plane landed in Jakarta, the golfer said all passengers and crew were searched by local police, but no culprit was found.
"Thus we were all sent on a plane again without knowing who had done it. It is just not nice to know that someone will set fire to the aircraft you will be travelling with," Martens said.
(Fairfax Media has translated Ms Martens' quotes from Norwegian.)
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