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Hong Kong to suspend extra flight plan from Tokyo

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-20 22:59

HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government will not continue to arrange additional flights from Monday as requests for assistance from Hong Kong residents on return flight from Tokyo have declined, the authority announced on Sunday.

The government has mounted four additional flights from March 18 to 20 to help Hong Kong people in Japan back home. According to a government spokesman, by 5:00 pm Sunday, only four persons had registered with the government to board the additional flight departing the Narita Airport at 9.50 pm Sunday tonight.

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Therefore, the spokesman said the government has no plan to further arrange extra flights from March 21, and the help desk at Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku, Tokyo, will cease to operate with effect from the same date.

The Immigration Department released that there had been over 7,100 enquiries and close to 2,000 assistance requests since the northeast Japan was hit by a massive earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear incident that followed.

To date, all of the enquiries and the vast majority of the requests have been settled, while the department is still trying to contact with 21 people who had lost contact with their families.

The spokesman also advised Hong Kong residents staying in Japan to pay close attention to development of the Fukushima nuclear incident and the relevant announcements issued by the local authorities.