Amid safety ban talk, Phuket-China flight suffers engine failure
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Amid safety ban talk, Phuket-China flight suffers engine failure

Emergency comes amid China ban over Thai air-safety concerns

Emergency oxygen masks deployed on the Orient Thai Airlines flight from Phuket to China, where aviation authorities have already banned new Thai flights over safety concerns. (Phuket News photo)
Emergency oxygen masks deployed on the Orient Thai Airlines flight from Phuket to China, where aviation authorities have already banned new Thai flights over safety concerns. (Phuket News photo)

PHUKET – An engine failed on an Orient Thai Airlines flight travelling from Phuket to Chengdu, China on Saturday caused the plane to fall from the sky so fast that panic erupted among the crew and passengers before it was able to safely make an emergency landing.

Flight OX682 was carrying Chinese tourists home from Phuket when the engine failed, and the rate of descent was so fast many passengers suffered from nosebleeds and fainted due to the sudden loss of altitude, the Phuket News reported today.

Some flight attendants reportedly began crying and oxygen masks were deployed, before the flight was stabilised and forced to make an emergency landing in Kunming, China.

Passenger Lixue Ku, 47, told the Daily Mail people were screaming and crying as they feared the plane would break apart in the sky or crash.

"I kept thinking about that plane crash in France, and I was convinced we were going to go the same way, but then the plane evened out," he said. "Everyone was in shock, even the staff."

After the emergency landing in Kunming province, the passengers were transferred to another flight to Chengdu while others received medical attention.

China Daily also reported the compensation has not been discussed. Read original story here.

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