Fog foils Malik trip to Lampung

METRO, Lampung: Thick fog prevented a Merpati aircraft carrying Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar and his entourage from landing at the Radin Inten II airport in Bandarlampung on Saturday.

Malik, who was scheduled to speak at a seminar on regional autonomy in the educational field in Metro, near Bandarlampung, was forced to return to Jakarta. Seminar attendants were left waiting for an hour, before the organizers announced Malik's failure to turn up.

Metro Deputy Mayor Lukman Hakim, who went to the airport to fetch Malik that morning, said the Merpati plane circled the town three times but the fog was so thick that it could not land.

Lukman said Malik called him upon arrival in Jakarta at about 9 a.m., telling him that there was no hope of making a trip to Lampung as Merpati officials remained uncertain about whether the flight would be rescheduled. Malik also apologized to the seminar organizers.

A Merpati official told Antara that the flight finally make it to the Bandarlampung airport later in the day. -- Antara