Update on HK travellers returning from Bangkok
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     After yesterday's travel warning, the Immigration Department received 153 enquiries and 14 requests for assistance from 6pm yesterday to noon today (April 14).  All 14 requests for assistance, in which people were seeking help to bring forward their return home by today, have been settled.

     A total of 23 flights will depart for Hong Kong today from Bangkok Airport, which is operating normally, carrying about 6,000 passengers.  Cathay Pacific Airways will upgrade its Bangkok-Hong Kong flight CX702, which will take off at 6.40pm today (Thailand time), to a bigger aircraft to provide about 50 additional seats to meet the demand from Hong Kong residents who want to come home early.

     A government spokesman said, "There are still hundreds of seats available on the 19 flights that will leave Bangkok for Hong Kong tomorrow (April 15).  Hong Kong residents now in Bangkok can contact their airlines if they want to return home early."

      "Residents who need assistance may call the 24-hour hotline of the Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit of the Immigration Department at (852)1868," he said.

     "As the travel warning on Bangkok is still in force, the Government strongly urges Hong Kong residents not to go to Bangkok.  We will continue to closely monitor developments there and issue updated information as and when required."

Ends/Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:25

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