INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bangkok: Thousands of holidaymakers were stranded in Bangkok on Thursday after Thai Airways cancelled all flights over Pakistan after
Islamabad suddenly shutd its airspace in response to soaring tensions with India.Twenty-seven flights, the majority to and from European
routes, have been cancelled, the Thai flag carrier said, with three passenger jets forced to return to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport on
Thursday.The cancellations follow a snowballing crisis between nuclear armed neighbours Pakistan and India, which has raised fears of an
all-out war.Pakistan shot down two Indian Air Force planes in its airspace, although it later clarified only one Indian pilot had been
captured.Thai Airways said approachly 5,000 passengers had been caught up in the cancellations."There are 4,000 from European flights and
700 to 800 from flights to Pakistan," a Thai Airways spokesperson said."We are waiting for permission to fly over other countries," she
said, explaining Iran had rejected a request to fly over its airspace."Now we are contacting China," she added.The carrier said stranded
passengers were put up in hotels at its expense.But frustration mounted Thursday at Bangkok main airport at the sudden delays."We have
waited here for 11 or 12 hours already," Gerda Heinzel 55, a German tourist flying back to Munich after a holiday in Phuket."We have much
been given anything to eat, anywhere to stay
There are no German-speaking staff to help us."Flights to London, Paris, Brussels, Milan and Munich were all cancelled on Thursday, while 10
incoming flights from Europe were also scratched.The cancellations are a blow to Thai Airways during one of the country most popular travel
periods.TheIndianSubcontinent has not verified the content of the source
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