Widebody Transport
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 13099; Flight Crew Type 11771
Troubleshooting
Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft
We received a call from the aft galley reporting a strong; electrical; burning smell. The Flight Attendant (FA) indicated that he could not determine the cause or location of the smell. We immediately ran the Smoke; Fire; or Fumes QRH checklist and then woke the Captain who was on break. The Captain was briefed and the relief pilot was sent to the aft galley to assess the situation. We contacted dispatch via the Satcom and asked to be conferenced in with maintenance.It took an inordinately long time to get our dispatcher on the line as he was busy on another call. Maintenance wanted us to try to isolate the problem by repowering some of the electrical system. As we were 541 miles from the nearest airport; the Captain elected not to turn anything back on that might exacerbate the smoke or fumes. The relief pilot called from the aft galley and reported a strong; acrid; electrical burning smell. At this time; ZZZ was the closest suitable airport and we [advised ATC] and requested clearance to ZZZ.Dispatch tried to persuade us to go to ZZZ1 because 'there was no customs at ZZZ'. Our FMC showed arrival times for ZZZ2 of XA41Z; ZZZ1 of XA37Z; and ZZZ of XA20Z. The decision was to proceed to ZZZ. I asked the dispatcher for ZZZ weather; NOTAMS; and landing performance data. Over the course of the diversion; dispatch contacted us several times via ACARS trying to persuade us to go to ZZZ2 or ZZZ1.After requesting landing data for XXR/Flaps 25; we received landing data for XXL/F30; XXR/F30; and YYR/F30. We finally received the correct landing data while descending out of 3000 feet. We landed without further incident and taxied to gate. There was a long delay in getting the jet bridge to the aircraft which prevented the fire crews from accessing the aft galley. The passengers were finally deplaned approximately 30 minutes after gate arrival.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
Air carrier flight crew on an oceanic crossing reported experiencing galley smoke and fumes. Flight crew elected to divert to nearest suitable airport.