Cut-off airport passengers head to Kobe by ferry after typhoon
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN September 5, 2018 at 13:40 JST
With Typhoon No. 21 leaving about 5,000 passengers and staff stranded overnight at Kansai International Airport in its wake, officials turned to the sea and land for a ticket out.
On the morning of Sept. 5, ferries started shuttling tired passengers to Kobe Airport every 15 to 20 minutes, and a damaged bridge was partially opened to let buses through.
The ride out couldn’t come soon enough for waiting passengers who had to deal with a power blackout and a lack of air conditioning in the airport terminal that started from late afternoon on Sept. 4.
“I was unable to sleep as it was too hot inside, and I am very tired,” said Hiromi Takahashi, 34, of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, who was waiting for a bus. She had arrived at the airport on Sept. 4 after a business trip to China.
“But I feel relieved that I can finally go back home,” Takahashi said.
A bridge to Kansai airport, located on an artificial island off Izumisato, Osaka Prefecture, was damaged in the typhoon when a tanker that was mooring slammed into it and forced its closure. On Sept. 5, one lane was opened to let buses through.
The other way off the island was via a ferry from a boarding area located about a five-minute bus ride from the terminal. More than 1,000 people stood in line for the bus to catch a ferry, which has a capacity of 110 passengers, to Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture.
A 20-year-old university student from Kobe’s Kita Ward was booked to fly to Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 4 to join a college oversea study program.
She said that the blackout started around 5 p.m. and the electricity shut down in succession in different parts of the terminal. Due to the electrical outage, announcements could not be made, leaving stranded passengers in the airport uninformed of the latest developments.
The announcement of the ferry service was done by posters. It is not known when normal operations will resume at the airport.
“There was no choice even if I couldn’t fly due to the typhoon,” the university student said. “I thought that the power would be restored soon. But when we were given food, I finally realized that I was in big trouble. I became exhausted later and hungry. I want to go home.”
A 39-year-old Korean man, a tourist visiting Osaka from Seoul, showed exhaustion in his face. He still faced difficulties in returning home.
“I am visiting Japan for the first time,” he said. “I was really stumped as I couldn’t understand what was happening in the airport. I also don’t know how to return to Korea from Kobe. How can I do it?”
(This article was written by Yasufumi Kado and Rieko Oki.)