Detained Thai passengers in Frankfurt to arrive home May 1

BANGKOK, April 30 (TNA) - Sixty Thai passengers who were temporarily detained by immigration police at Frankfurt International Airport will arrive home on May 1. Thai Airways International (THAI), the national flag carrier, announced on Wednesday morning that it plans to bring a total of 106 passengers, 60 of whom are Thais, and 20 crew members to Thailand on its TG921 Flight, which is scheduled to leave Frankfurt International Airport on April 30, at 2:45pm (local time) and to arrive in Thailand on May 1, at 6:25am (local time). According to THAI, all the passengers originally boarded its TG923 Flight, set to depart Frankfurt to Thailand at 9pm on April 29, (local time), but the plane suffered a technical problem and had to wait for repair. As the Frankfurt International Airport bans night flights from 11pm to 5am, the THAI flight could not take off; so, THAI accommodated all the passengers and its crew members at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel and arranged for their dinner and breakfast. But the 60 Thai passengers, whose visas expired on April 29, were prohibited by German immigration police from leaving the airport's area for staying at the nearby hotel. The chief of the THAI station in Frankfurt tried in vain to convince the German immigration authorities of their departure and all the 60 Thai passengers had to, consequently, wait at the transit area of the Frankfurt International Airport, with THAI staffs providing them with food and blankets and staying with them. (TNA)