Nok Air plane slides off runway in Chiang Rai, all flights cancelled

A Nok Air Boeing 737-800 slid off the runway while landing at the Mae Fah Luang international airport in the northern province of Chiang Rai in heavy rain on Saturday night but nobody was hurt. The airport will remain closed until Wednesday. According to an announcement issued by the airline on Saturday, Nok Air Flight DD108 (Don Mueang - Chiang Rai) with 164 passengers and six crew members on board departed from Don Mueang airport at 8.03pm and arrived at Mae Fah Luang airport at 9.06pm. While landing, the aircraft slid off the runway because of the heavy rain but the pilots managed to safely bring the aircraft to a halt. All of the passengers and crew members were safely moved to the passenger building. Nobody was injured. An investigation was underway into the incident. Nok Air said on Sunday that all flights to Chiang Rai were cancelled. The Mae Fah Luang airport also said the runway would be closed on Sunday between 6am and 10pm due to the incident. It later extended the closure until Wednesday in order to complete an investigation of the incident and clear the runway area. <br/>