FIREFIGHTER KILLED

Airline chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said a Dubai firefighter died while trying to put out the flames .

He said the plane had undergone maintenance in 2015 and that the United Arab Emirates pilot had over 7,000 hours of flying experience.

Safety experts said it was too early to pinpoint a cause for the crash, but Sheikh Ahmed ruled out any security breach.

Boeing said it would work with Emirates to gather more information.

Investigators will scour the wreckage and interview pilots, controllers and witnesses for clues to any technical malfunctions, human error or weather-related problems.

Judging by footage of the aircraft's intact tail section, where the 'black box' flight recorders are located, vital voice and data recordings should be retrievable.

According to specialist aviation weather reports, at the time of the accident temperatures at Dubai International airport were up to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) and wind shear - a potentially hazardous condition involving sudden and unpredictable changes in wind direction or speed - was indicated on the airport's runways.