Passengers stranded on plane overnight
Hundreds of passengers were forced to spend a night grounded onboard a Dragonair plane when it was diverted due to a heavy storm.
The Hong Kong-bound flight had taken off from Shanghai but was forced to divert to nearby Shenzhen airport when it was told heavy rain in Hong Kong meant it would be unable to land there.
A power failure then prevented the flight from continuing when the storm died down and the 252 passengers were forced to stay on the plane, on the tarmac, at Shenzhen for seven hours.
A friend of the crew told the South China Morning Post newspaper they had only 1.5 litres of water between them.
The airline said in a statement: "The initial plan was to re-depart to Hong Kong as soon as the weather condition allowed… regrettably, the delay was further extended when there were technical problems with the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit.
"’We sincerely apologise that as Shenzhen is not an operating port for Dragonair, the deplaning process (took) longer than expected because of constraints in local ground handling and immigration clearance."
A ‘special clearance’ was obtained on Monday morning to let passengers disembark, some 11 hours after departure.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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