Ah Ha! There's more to this!!!!
Orient Thai jets 'not ransacked'
Published on Jun 26, 2004
Local police and naval officers yesterday rejected a claim by Orient Thai Airlines that two of its jumbo jets parked at the Navy's U-tapao airport for maintenance had been ransacked.
Maj-General Prasert Ithimethin, chief of Rayong police, said after an inspection of the two Lockheed L-1011 TriStar jets there were no traces of robbery or fire, as had been described in a police complaint filed earlier by an airline representative.
A number of fire-extinguishers, life jackets and life-saving equipment had been abandoned near the planes, he said. The planes' doors and windows were closed, and there were no signs of a break-in. A number of large spare parts were found near the planes.
Prasert said an initial investigation had found that Orient Thai Airlines had conducted an emergency exit drill on one of the jumbo jets with some 30 flight attendants.
He said the equipment had probably been abandoned after the exercise because participants did not know how to return it to its original places.
Captain Jamnong Nuchpoom, deputy commander of the Naval Air Division, said the aircraft had been parked for repairs and maintenance in a hangar at the airport in Rayong for several months. Parts had been removed by airline mechanics as replacements in other planes, he said.
He insisted security was sufficient at the well-guarded airport.
The Nation
RAYONG
