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| From local news site |
The local excitement here is that the airport is closed. Sunday
night during a torrential downpour, a passenger plane slid off the runway. It
appears that no one was injured but the plane is still blocking both runways
resulting in all flights in and out of this city being cancelled or rerouted
for the last two days. Plenty of people are steaming about it,
especially the passengers who were on board. They complained about having to
sit in a smoke-filled cabin for nearly half an hour before being let off the
plane, and no medical attention available other than from fellow passengers,
and general insensitivity of the airline personnel in dealing with passengers.
(Then again, when you take a budget airline, you probably need to expect budget
service too.) Everyone is busy pointing fingers at each other as to what was
the cause of the crash and how it was handled. Meanwhile no flights in or out
of the city. Some passengers are being bussed to a city about 3 hours away to
try to get on alternate flights.
The delay in getting the airport reopened is apparently due to the
desire of the airline to salvage the plane with as little extra damage as
possible and so moving the plane out of the way hasn't progressed very far. However it is really inconveniencing every other airline as
well, prompting one official to threaten to use a bull dozer. Hopefully the airport will be open tomorrow - but then
again they have passed several deadlines already.
For a good personal account from a passenger on board see http://www.interaksyon.com/article/63260/timeline-from-cebupac-cabin--my-5j-971-near-death-experience
