Small plane takes emergency landing in Thai north

CHIANG MAI, Jan 24 (TNA) -- A chartered small civilian airplane from Lamphun province carrying Canadian passengers took an emergency landing after a system malfunction in the middle of a potato field in the Thai northern Chiang Mai province earlier today, leaving at two people slight injured. Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai province Mongkol Suksai said he has received at a report at around 10 am local time that a small aircraft had taken an emergency landing in the middle of a potato field in Loangkhod subdistrict, Prao district of Chiang Mai. He said two male tourists from Canada aging between 55-56 years old were slight injured, while it is speculated that the cause of the incident was due to problem at piloting system. Police has already questioned the injured, both of which said that they had chartered the plane from Lamphun province and when the piloting system started to malfunction, the one who was piloting the plane then tried to land the plane as best and quickly as he could. Both the injured tourists expressed that they were lucky as they only had minor injuries, while authorities have contacted their relatives to come and pick them up. The damage to the potato field is currently estimated at over 50,000 baht. Director of the Chiang Mai Air Traffic Control Centre Kiattisak Rienwattana informed that at about 9 am. local time, a Canadian pilot had contacted the control centre for permission to land the RV8 plane, which left the Nok Airport in Lamphun province earlier on. Then at 9.55am, Mr Kiattisak said he had received a distress call from the same pilot, informing the control centre of a system malfunction and asking for permission to land in the potato field, which is situated about 20 nautical miles from the Chiang Mai International Airport. (TNA)