7,200 People Stranded Overnight at Typhoon-Hit Kansai Airport: Operator

September 6, 2018

Osaka- A total of some 7,200 passengers and airport workers were stuck at typhoon-hit Kansai International Airport over Tuesday night, the airport operator said Wednesday.

Of them, 4,600 people had been transported from the offshore airport on an artificial island by an emergency ferry and buses as of 7 p.m. Wednesday (10 a.m. GMT), according to Kansai Airports, the operator.

The operator is working to first reopen Terminal 2 of the airport, which was fully shut down on Tuesday as Typhoon Jebi struck western Japan.

Passengers and other people at the airport, initially estimated to total over 3,000, were forced to stay overnight there because the access bridge was closed due to damage from a drifting tanker's crash.

The operator said it cannot predict when to reopen the airport because damage from seawater flooding is far extensive than thought. Jiji Press