THAI flight slips from runway, 13 injured

BANGKOK, September 9 (TNA) - An airplane of Thai Airways International (THAI), the national flag carrier, slipped from its runway on Sunday night, slightly injuring 13 passengers and delaying flights at Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The Department of Civil Aviation reported the incident on Monday morning, elaborating that the accident of the THAI's Airbus A330 aircraft was caused by its broken rear right landing gear during its landing attempt at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The department's director-general, Woradet Hanprasert, told journalists that the THAI passenger flight, TG679, carrying 301 people, 287 passengers and 14 crew members, departed from China's Guangzhou City at 9pm and when it reached the Suvarnabhumi Airport at 11:30pm, its right landing gear collapsed and the second engine attached to the right wing hit the runway and caught fire. Woradet acknowledged that all passengers on board the plane were immediately evacuated through inflatable emergency slides and 13 of them were slightly injured. Woradet said investigators were examining the flight data recorder, known as black box, of the plane, while Raweewan Netarakawessana, Director of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, noted that the investigators need at least 24 hours to remove the troubled plane and to repair the 2,000-meter-long damaged section of the runway, causing some flights to have delayed at the airport consequently. Raweewan insisted that no flights were cancelled or directed to Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok. Meanwhile, THAI President Sorajak Kasemsuvan apologized to all affected passengers, noting that the national airline has, in the meantime, opened its hotline, No. 02-545 3181, for people to inquire about flight schedules around the clock. (TNA)