Chinese flights taking Wuhan citizens home from Thailand, Malaysia
published : 31 Jan 2020 at 15:26
updated: 31 Jan 2020 at 18:16
writer: Reuters
SHANGHAI: China's aviation authority on Friday dispatched two Xiamen Airlines flights to bring Wuhan citizens home from Bangkok in Thailand and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, it said on its website on Friday.
The charter flights were expected to land back in Wuhan the same day, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced.
There were 117 nationals from Hubei province in Bangkok and 100 in Kota Kinabalu who were "willing to take the chartered flights back to Wuhan as soon as possible", the CAAC announcement said.
"The charter flights adopt the principle of voluntary ticket purchase," the CAAC added.
China's foreign affairs ministry said earlier on Friday that the country would bring Wuhan residents back from overseas "as soon as possible" due to the "the practical difficulties that Chinese citizens from Hubei, especially Wuhan, have faced overseas".
Many airlines have announced they were halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that has claimed more than 200 lives, with nearly 10,000 other people being treated for infection, in China.
- Keywords
- coronavirus
- thailand
- malaysia
