04 Apr, 2020
The 166 Thais who had flown home from overseas on Friday night (April 3) gave up their resistance and agreed to go to quarantine facilities in Chonburi’s Sattahip district, Nation TV reporters said from Suvarnabhumi Airport on Saturday (April 4).
A commotion had broken out when Thai passengers landing at Suvarnabhumi on Friday evening refused to go to quarantine facilities, claiming they were not notified in advance of the procedures.
The event prompted the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) to issue an order temporarily prohibiting aircraft from entering Thailand for three days -- from April 4 to 6, except for some cases such as emergency landing and medical flights.
According to the Nation TV reporter, after over four hours of a standoff between 166 passengers and airport staff, they finally agreed to go to quarantine facilities at around 2am.
The airport dispatched four buses to take the passengers from gate 10 on the second floor of the passenger terminal to Sattahip Naval Base in Chonburi province. The passengers will remain there in quarantine for 14 days and will have to strictly follow the regulations regarding quarantine procedures announced by Ministry of Public Health.
Of the 166 passengers, 76 had returned from Japan on flight JL 31, another 16 by TG 641 from Japan, 19 by NH 847 also from Japan, 44 by SQ 976 from Singapore and 11 by GR 832 from Qatar.
