Emergency charter flight arrives in Taiwan
24/1/2007 18:04
Rachel Hou/Shanghai Daily news
An emergency
charter flight between Shanghai and Taipei took a seriously-ill Taiwanese woman
to her hometown across the strait early this morning to receive further
treatment.
It is the first time this year that the authorities have
approved such a flight. The Taiwan Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal
Government made a substantial contribution to the flight.
By skipping
regulations that call for regular flights between the mainland and Taiwan to
stop off in Hong Kong first, the trip was reduced to two hours instead of the
seven to eight hours it normally takes.
The plane took off from Shanghai
Pudong International Airport at 11:46pm yesterday and arrived in Taiwan Taoyuan
International Airport at 1:45am today.
The woman, surnamed Cai, suffered
an acute respiratory syndrome and heart failure in Shanghai on January 9. She
was later treated at Shanghai East Hospital in Pudong, where she was in stable
but serious condition.
A similar medical emergency chartered flight
between Shanghai and Taipei took an elderly Taiwanese woman, stricken by a
sudden brain infection, to her hometown across the strait on September 15, 2006.
In June 2006, authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait announced
that they would allow chartered flights between the mainland and Taiwan in the
event of a medical emergency.
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