Taipei airport shut after lightning strikes runway

AFP FILE PHOTO

TAIPEI – Taipei’s Songshan airport was briefly closed after its sole runway was hit by lightning, delaying 25 flights, an official said Sunday.

The strike Saturday afternoon left a hole some 70 centimeters (28 inches) long and 50 centimeters wide. Authorities closed the transport hub for just under two hours after being alerted to the damage by an airport worker.

“Twenty-five flights to and from the airport, 20 of them on domestic routes, were delayed before the damage was fixed at 8:10 pm (1210 GMT),” a Civil Aeronautics Administration official told AFP.

Around 3,500 passengers were affected, he said.

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