Yahoo – AFP,
19 Aug 2014
A Chinese aircraft was forced to delay its landing after two air traffic controllers nodded off, reports say (AFP Photo/John Macdougall) |
Beijing
(AFP) - A Chinese aircraft was forced to delay its landing after two air
traffic controllers nodded off, reports said Tuesday, sparking a wave of online
anger about airline safety.
The Boeing
737 was preparing to land at Wuhan airport in central China but had no response
from the air traffic control tower for 12 minutes, reports said.
Contact was
eventually made and China Eastern Airlines flight MU2528 from Sanya landed
safely, the Sina.com news portal said.
"Because
air traffic control was asleep on duty, (the plane) called many times,"
civil aviation authorities said in a statement quoted by Chinese business
magazine Caijing.
"But
there was no reply, and no contact could be made with the control tower."
A separate
investigation report cited by Caijing said two controllers had fallen asleep.
The
incident happened on July 8 and the statement was dated July 29. There was no
explanation for the delay in making it public.
"Air
control work is truly exhausting, but it is unforgivable to sleep on
duty," a post on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, said Tuesday.
"Hundreds
of people’s lives depend on the actions of flight tower controllers. We entrust
our lives to you," the post continued.
Another
netizen added: "Such serious consequences. Should let him sleep as much as
he wants in prison."
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