Winny Wang/Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai Airlines sent 149 passengers to Phnom Penh yesterday morning after they were held up at a Hainan airport for about seven hours due to a hydraulic system failure that caused the carrier's plane to make an emergency landing, Shanghai Daily reported.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737 that was on its way from Shanghai to the Cambodian capital, had to put down in Hainan's Haikou around 11pm on Wednesday because of mechanical failure.