KEY POINTS:
A group of New Zealanders is recovering in Athens after their Thai Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Turkmenistan.
Pauline Morum, of Wellington, was one of 10 researchers from New Zealand flying to Athens for a conference when passengers were told the plane was going to make an emergency landing.
In all they suffered a 44-hour ordeal following a fuel leak which promped the emergency.
The Thai Airways flight had left Bangkok for Athens and was four hours into the eight-hour flight when the pilot found he only had 10 minutes left of fuel in one of the tanks.
Mrs Morum said while passengers were "extremely quiet and calm" during the landing at Ashgabat airport, near the border of Iran, everyone was nervous.
"But in the end we landed safely at the airport," Mrs Morum said from Athens.
The passengers were taken from the aircraft and held in the transit lounge amid tight security, she said.
While everyone felt safe, passengers became concerned when it became evident the plane they had just made an emergency landing in would be fixed, rather than a replacement plane sent, she said.
"We were concerned once we had landed because we had received mixed messages about how we were going to get away," she said.
"I think it was very difficult for Thai Airways, initially we thought another plane was going to come from Bangkok."
Staff then announced they had fixed the plane and they would be travelling on it, she said.
"We felt quite unhappy about that in the end."
One woman passenger called the Greek diplomatic service, who became involved and they considered sending a plane out from Greece, she said.
Another passenger contacted the British diplomatic service in an attempt to get help, she said.
"At one time we were all saying we wouldn't go off in it but in the end it seemed to be the only option because of the political situation in the country we were in," Mrs Morum said.
When the passengers arrived in Athens the announcement was made the pilot had made the emergency landing on one engine, she said.
Mrs Morum said she would be talking with the other passengers to decide what if any action, they would take.
- NZPA
