AN UNPRECEDENTED storm rocked Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, messing with more than 18 flights and stranding 3,000 passengers for a short while.
One flight was re-directed to Suvarnabhumi Airport and another to U-Tapao Airport.
Massively strong winds caused Lion Air’s mobile airstair to hit a Nok Air aircraft that was parked nearby, and all 176 passengers on board the Nok Air flight were made to get off the plane and board another aircraft.
Their flight to Nakhon Si Thammarat was then rescheduled from 2.05pm to 3.30pm.
The storm disrupted many flights to and from Don Mueang Airport between 2 pm and 4 pm said Immigration Bureau’s deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Cherngron Rimpadee.
The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand reported that the storm had cleared at around 3.15pm and normal services in and around the airport would resume soon.
As the storm hit, many planes were parked on the tarmac waiting for their time to take off, while many others waited nearby waiting for the right time to land.
Don Mueang Airport is in the north of Bangkok, where severe hailstorms and heavy winds hit on Thursday afternoon.
Also hit was Pathum Thani. They were hit by winds so severe that a section of the Western University’s concrete wall blew off.
Falling debris damaged four cars and two motorcycles owned by university staff and lecturers, and reports say that nobody was injured.
Police and officials rushed to the scene after getting reports on the incident.
The university is located in Pathum Thani’s Lam Luk Ka district. The site as of yet is a no go area pending inspection of the building and its structure.
The Met office has said that summer and electrical storms in the North, Northeast, East and Central regions, including Bangkok, are forecast for Friday and Saturday.
