Do they have hostages after all?

[cavanami]

The tee rak just told me that our Swedish neighbor is looking to get the hell out!

Said he "had enough" of the "banana republic".

[ALHOLK]

...and us stuck on the outside of LOS are a hostage of PAD!

[cheekyboy]

The top official at the tourism ministry said on Monday that 350,000 foreign visitors and Thai tourists are stranded inside Thailand by the airport closure, and the number is increasing daily.

 

"Around 350,000 passengers remain stranded in Thailand since the closing of the airports," said Sasithara Pichaichannarong, permanent secretary at the tourism ministry, in an interview with the AFP news agency.

 

That figure includes Thais who were booked on flights out of the kingdom.

 

About 10,000 Thai nationals are estimated to be stuck abroad by the airport closures, an official from the foreign ministry said.

 

 

Earlier, Tourism and Sport Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said that the number of stranded foreign tourists in Thailand has reached 240,000.

 

The toll will continue to rise daily and exponentially, he said, as more tourists reach the end oif their holidays, with too few planes to take them out.

 

Mr Weerasak held a press conference at the Bitec Exhibition Hall in Bang Na, which has been turned into a massive, confused check-in centre for foreigners trying to leave Thailadn.

 

 

 

Flights arrive and leave at U-Tapao air base, 150 kilometres to the east.

 

Some tourists are also flying out of provincial airports including Phuket and Chiang Mai. France, Spain and Australia have sent special flights to evacuate desperate citizens stuck in Thailand.

 

 

 

Passengers have been advised to check in at least seven hours before their flight time, to allow for the drive to U-Tapao.

 

 

The main Suvarnabhumi international airport has been shut since last Tuesday when protesters besieged it in their bid to topple the premier, and a day later they stormed the Don Mueang domestic airport.

 

She said that the tourism ministry would on Tuesday ask the cabinet to give them one billion baht ($28 million) to fund repatriation efforts for stranded foreigners, and to bring back the Thais stuck abroad.

 

"We have currently received only a 10-million-baht budget for this operation, which is certainly not sufficient," said Ms Sasithara/

 

The government has warned that the week-long siege of the airports will cost around one million jobs and about 50 per cent of the expected tourist arrivals. (with reports by AFP)

[cheekyboy]

say there are 100 nationalities flying in you soon get up to the figures quoted ...

[cavanami]

...can I get a ride *** in *** to LOS? Hell, I'll even help "drive"!

[waerth]

ok 250k stranded may make sense (even considering very few are getting in & several getting out daily), but countries like UK are talking about a few thousand stranded only are the rest chinese & where are they all hiding?

anyway the end of the mess are in sight so it's all good & I suppose you made it back wearth?

 

Yes I am back thks. Many people will not go to their embassies to register themselves as stranded. The figures the embassies have are based on people whom voluntarily contacted their embassies.

 

 

[waerth]

...add the mail, commercial and private shipments, medical supplies, etc...not getting into or out of LOS...bit of a mess!

 

According to a Dutch doc I saw on tv last week about the Airport Crisis 4% of all daily worldcargo goes through BKK!!! I cannot confirm these figures, but say they are right!! That is total chaos. But Cargo can prolly be rerouted easier than pax.