A passenger plan with more than 200 people on board that departed on Tuesday from Xi'an was forced to land in Zhengzhou en route to Shanghai, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.

Flight FM 9209 from Shanghai Airliners took off at 5:00 p.m. and was due to arrive in the destination at 6:45 pm. But nearly one hour later after departure, the plan had to touch down in Zhengzhou due to a technical glitch. All of the passengers were safe.

A female passenger said some people who touched the cabin wall detected heat, and asked whether there was something wrong with the plane. But a flight attendant said it did not affect the take-off.

Upon hearing the news of emergency landing, some passengers became mildly worried about safety, Mr Wang, a passenger on the flight, said.

He said by 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the passengers were still stranded at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport. No work staff from the Shanghai airliners dealt with the incident.

He added that they were informed that another plane would take them to Shanghai after some foreign passengers contacted their embassies.

(CRI January 23, 2008)