Storm Pabuk: Tourists trapped in southern Thailand

World
Europe

Several airports in southern Thailand affected by tropical storm Pabuk have been reopened, but more flights were delayed due to a downpour on Saturday morning.

In Samui International Airport, tourists were still waiting to catch their flights, including tourists from China.

"Our flight has been delayed for four hours, and we are still not sure what time a rescheduled flight will come," a Chinese tourist with a seven-member tour group told China Central Television on Saturday.

They had planned to fly to Bangkok first, and then to Beijing.

Of three China-bound flights, only one was on time.

It is not clear how many tourists are still trapped because of weather conditions.

Children play in a flooded street in southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, January 5, 2019. /VCG Photo‍

A Chinese tourist surnamed Chen from Shanghai said his flight has been delayed for two days, and noted that others are facing the same predicament.

Makeshift tents have been set up outside the terminal where there is not enough room to accommodate tourists trapped in the airport.

Pabuk has claimed four lives in southern Thailand, according to local police on Sunday.

The tropical storm reached Nakhon Si Thammarat province on Friday noon, bringing torrential rains, strong winds and flash floods. It has moved over the western coast of Thailand where its ferocity has dropped.

(Top image: Chinese tourists disembark at Surat Thani airport after tour operators were forced to suspend boats to tourist islands due to tropical storm Pabuk, in southern Thai province of Surat Thani, January 4, 2019. /VCG Photo)

(With input from agencies)