Hat Yai's Airport Back In Operation

[george]

Hat Yai's airport back in operation

SONGKHLA: Hat Yai Airport reopened early yesterday morning after it was shut down on Friday morning following an emergency landing by a Royal Thai Air Force C-130 transport plane.

Wing Commander Prateep Vijitho, director of Hat Yai Airport, said the aircraft had been repaired and moved off the runway on Friday night, adding that the airport had never experienced an incident like this before.

The runway suffered little damage, he noted.

Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said the C-130 was normally known to be safe, and he praised the crew for landing the plane safely with only its nose wheel functioning.

Narathiwat governor Wichom Thongsong, who was onboard the plane when it took off to return him to Narathiwat after dropping off the governors of Songkhla, Satun, Yala and Pattani, said he had been alarmed to learn that the plane had to make an emergency landing.

"In most such landings there is a big crash, dragging the plane along the runway. It could have exploded," he said.

During the crisis, he said, he prayed for the power of the merit of Their Majesties the King and Queen to protect him.

--The Nation 2004-03-07