Spring Festival Travel Rush: Thousands of vehicles stranded in Haikou on Saturday
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Now to the latest on the Spring Festival Travel Rush. Tens of thousands of tourists are still stranded in Hainan. Saturday saw an estimated 10-thousand vehicles stuck on the island. From streets, water, to the air, different organizations are helping to get people back to the mainland as soon as possible. Omar Khan tells us more.
It's the heaviest fog in a decade across the Qiongzhou Strait linking Hainan with Guangdong Province. Ferry services were cancelled 14 times, leaving thousands of people and vehicles stranded at port.
"I arrived at the port at 8 a.m. I have been here for 12 hours."
As of Friday night, over 10 thousand cars were still waiting in line to leave the island. Temporary bathrooms have been set up, as well as medical centers. Many hotels, shops, and local people have offered to help those stranded. As a large number of people are due back at work after the week-long Spring Festival holiday, air tickets to big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, have soared.
"The air ticket normally is about 700 yuan, now it has soared to more than 2 times the original price."
To ease traffic, airlines are set to dispatch wide-body planes to increase capacity. Hainan Airlines has adjusted to provide nearly 10-thousand additional seats for next week. And with pressure on ferry services, Guangdong's Xuwen port across the strait has sent passenger ships to assist.
TANG QINGFU XUWEN PORT, GUANGDONG "After the ships come back and unload, we send them back to Hainan immediately."
On Friday alone, Xuwen port sent 75 empty passenger ships to support people stuck in Hainan's three ports. But getting everyone out, may take several days, as 50 thousand vehicles remain stranded. Omar Khan, CGTN.