Plane with minister onboard skids off runway, all safe
KUCHING: A light aircraft carrying Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah and her entourage skidded off the runway upon landing at Kuching International Airport ( KIA) during heavy rain yesterday.
No injuries were reported in the 6.10pm incident, with all five passengers, the pilot and co-pilot exiting the Beechcraft-type plane on their own.
Fatimah and her entourage were heading back here from Dalat, where she had been attending functions earlier throughout the day.
The Dalat assemblywoman was unreachable for comment following the incident, which resulted in the closure of the KIA runway until 8.15pm yesterday.
A statement from the Fire and Rescue Department ( Bomba) said personnel from the Airport Fire and Rescue Services (AFRS) at KIA were deployed following notification from KIA’s Air Traffic Control.
Additional Bomba personnel from the Tabuan Jaya and Batu Lintang fire stations were also dispatched to KIA.
An editor of The Borneo Post, who was travelling back here from Kuala Lumpur yesterday, said his flight was re- directed to Sibu Airport as a result of the incident.
“We were on AirAsia flight AK5228 departing from Kuala Lumpur at 4.20pm, and scheduled to reach Kuching by 6pm.
“By 5.45pm, the captain informed us that we will likely face delays due to bad weather, (which caused) other planes to also circle around KIA).
“About 15 minutes later, the captain further updated that the airport was closed to 8pm and that all planes were now redirected to Sibu Airport until further notice.”
As of press time, authorities at KIA were unreachable for comment.