No planes, so MP takes seven-hour bus ride

KOTA KINABALU: Sandakan MP Vivian Wong (pic) had to leave Kota Kinabalu to attend a funeral in her constituency but planes were grounded at the airport here.

She opted for a seven-hour bus ride instead.

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“My flight was cancelled yesterday (Thursday), so I bought a bus ticket because I needed to go back to Sandakan to attend a friend’s funeral this morning (Friday),” she said.

Wong took the 2pm bus, and after “several toilet breaks and dinner along the way”, she arrived at her destination slightly after 9pm.

“I take the bus from the Parliament building to KL Sentral. So taking a bus to my hometown is no issue,” she said.

In fact, she said she enjoyed her bus ride and took several photos along the way, including a scenic shot of a river surrounded by greenery.

Wong was among hundreds of people forced to use alternatives modes of travel following the inconsistent flight schedules after the eruption of Sulawesi’s Mount Ruang on Thursday.

Plumes of volcanic ash from the eruptions which drifted into nearby airspace mostly affected Borneo, especially over Sabah.

On Thursday, some 20,000 passengers were left stranded at the Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Sandakan and Labuan airports.

The situation remained largely unchanged yesterday, with most of the morning flights suspended, but several airlines resumed some operations later in the afternoon.

In a statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia said that airline operations will depend on weather reports.