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CHINA> National
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5 flights bring back 1,400 from Thailand
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-01 07:46 Five flights Sunday ferried home about 1,400 Chinese tourists stranded in Thailand, where tension grew with thousands of government supporters clashing with anti-government protesters in Bangkok.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 1,000 Chinese are still stuck in Thailand. Four more planes were scheduled to bring some of them back last night but it was not clear how many would be on board. A spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it is "one of the biggest efforts" made in chartering flights to bring back Chinese stranded overseas. She said the military airport that Thailand opened as a temporary international airport is in chaos. "The airport has only one runway, two security check channels and a waiting room of less than 200 sq m, but thousands of people flooded in," E Wenxin, an Air China manager stationed in Thailand, said. "We have to maintain order, and fight for everything from refueling to the runway," he said. In Thailand, thousands of pro-government supporters also rallied in Bangkok in their first significant show of strength since the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) launched its "final battle" last Monday to unseat the government. By early evening at least 20,000 of the government supporters had gathered, most wearing red that is associated with their cause. They carried Thai flags, red flags and red heart signs with former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's picture. Police vowed to keep the two sides apart, but when pro-government forces held a rally in the same part of Bangkok in September, they later marched on PAD lines and fighting ensued. Early yesterday morning, an explosion in the Thai prime minister's office compound injured about 45 people. The blast at the Government House, which has been occupied by thousands of anti-government protesters since August, occurred during a rally by supporters of the PAD, officials said. Flights in and out of Suvarnabhumi international airport and the mostly-domestic Don Muang airport have been paralyzed since late Tuesday and Thursday respectively by the PAD siege. The airport blockades are the latest escalation in the PAD's battle to unseat Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who they accuse of being a front for former leader Thaksin, Somchai's brother-in-law, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives in exile. 'Glad to be back home' The stranded Chinese landed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou yesterday morning. The first was a China Eastern flight with 246 Chinese on board, which arrived in Shanghai before dawn yesterday. It was followed by a China Southern flight with 351 on board to Guangzhou, two Air China flights bringing nearly 700 to Beijing, and a Shanghai Airlines flight with 219. Zhou, whose daughter was expected on one of the flights, reached Shanghai Pudong airport as early as 1 am yesterday. "My family was deeply concerned about my daughter's safety after learning the Thailand airport was closed. We felt great relief when she took the charter flight and finally got back safe," he said, giving only his surname. His daughter has an internship with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. A manager of a Shanghai food company surnamed Gao, who went to Thailand for market research and was scheduled to be back on Wednesday, said he was "very happy to be back home" and was "deeply impressed" with the Chinese government's efforts to organize charter flights. |
