Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers.
Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board.
The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm.
Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized.
A different flight took off at 10:30am yesterday and arrived at 12:24pm at Taichung International Airport.
Some passengers said they were frightened and that they would not take a flight for a while.
A man surnamed Tseng (曾), who went to South Korea for a business trip, said the children on board were crying when oxygen masks dropped down, and he was afraid that the plunging plane might hit the ground.
Tseng was greeted at the airport by his wife and two daughters with a sign and flowers. He said he was happy to see his family.
A woman surnamed Hsu (許) said she felt something was wrong as the aircraft seemed to be hovering in the air and flight attendants remained in their seats.
Hsu and her daughters put on oxygen masks when the plane began to fall, and she had an earache and headache while her daughters were crying. The airline arranged for passengers’ accommodation that night and said the flight would depart again the next morning, Hsu said, adding that she felt good with their safe return to Taichung.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS