Melbourne musician Mark Elton has reported that his double bass has been “smashed beyond repair” by Qantas during a flight between Melbourne and Perth.

Mark Elton. Photo courtesy of Mark Elton.

The instrument – worth around $13k – was damaged on his flight up to perform at Perth’s Fringe World Festival.

“Hey @qantas! Thanks for a very depressing start to my month of shows,” Elton wrote in an Instagram post.

“After flying Melbourne/Perth today I opened my flight case and found my beautiful Double Bass smashed beyond repair after obviously being dropped from a considerable height by your baggage people. What’s worse is there was no apology or notification of any accident involving my precious instrument.”

Qantas replied that it was “sorry to hear about the damage”.

The West Australian reported that Qantas told Elton that the point of damage was not found after reviewing CCTV footage, but the airline was willing to make a goodwill payment.

The damage done to Elton’s bass. Photo © Mark Elton/Instagram.

Other Australian musicians have reported damage to their instruments found after leaving Qantas flights.

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