21 hurt in plane's near-miss over SKorea

A THAI aircraft was suspected of flying on the same altitude of a Taiwanese plane and nearly caused collision.

SEOUL: -- Twenty-one people aboard a Taiwanese plane were injured Thursday when it was forced to change course to avoid another aircraft while approaching South Korea's Jeju island, airline officials said.

Nineteen of them needed hospital treatment and three are still in hospital including one with a brain haemorrhage, medical staff said.

The accident happened when a Boeing 757 operated by the Far Eastern Air Transport Corporation was approaching the southern resort island.

Airline spokesman Chang You-peng said the plane was told by flight controllers to reduce altitude from 35,000 feet to 34,000 feet.

But an alarm designed to avoid airborne collisions went off, prompting the pilots to make an emergency descent for around 10 seconds, Chang told AFP in Taipei.

"The pilots said they suspected it was a Thai jetliner flying nearby on the same altitude," he added, praising their "correct and proper" handling of the incident.

The pilots had no time to warn passengers of the sudden descent, Chang said, adding that 16 passengers and five crew were injured out of 129 passengers and eight crew members on board.

Medical officials in Jeju said two people suffered fractured ribs and one had a brain haemorrhage.,

Chang said around half the passengers were en route to Shanghai and were transiting in South Korea.

A four-member team from South Korea's transport ministry was sent to Jeju to investigate.

"An investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the accident by analyzing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the aircraft and interviewing the pilots, flight attendants and passengers," said ministry official Byeon Soon-Cheol.

"We don't know yet what caused the airplane to lose height so suddenly."

An official at Incheon Air Traffic Centre said the flight lost height some 50-60 miles (31-37 miles) south of Jeju.

"It is true that a Thai Airways aircraft was flying nearby," said the official, adding that it was bound for Bangkok after taking off from Incheon west of Seoul.

-- AFP 2006-11-16

21 Hurt As Taiwan Plane Nears Airport

Twenty-one people aboard a Taiwanese airliner were hurt when the plane changed course to avoid another jet just prior to landing at an airport on South Korea's Cheju Island on Thursday.

Some of those aboard the Far Eastern Air Transport Boeing 757 aircraft may have suffered broken bones and were taken to hospital on the southern resort island, aviation officials said.

Airline officials said an alarm went off as the jet was beginning its descent, indicating another plane was in the area, and causing it to change course.

"We suspect there was a Thai Airways aircraft in the same area, so we stopped the descent and several passengers and crew received minor injuries," a Far Eastern Air Transport spokeswoman said, speaking by phone from Taiwan.

An official at Cheju Airport could not immediately confirm whether the Thai jet was in the same area as the Taiwanese plane.

"It was because of turbulence. Nothing went wrong with the plane itself," the official said.

Officials for the airline in Taiwan said its flight EF 306 made an emergency landing on Cheju and 21 were injured, including 16 passengers and five crew members. There were 129 passengers and eight crew members on board.

-- Reuters 2006-11-16

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