Dubai airport, closed by plane accident, reopens

DUBAI, March 12 (Reuters) Dubai airport reopened after being forced to close for more than seven hours today when a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft had an accident during takeoff, officials said.

Fourteen of the 236 passengers and crew were slightly injured in the 0800 hours accident at the West Asia busiest airport, officials said. No details of the cause of the accident were available, but Dubai civil aviation authorities said they were investigating.

''Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG006 flying from Dubai to Dhaka had a minor accident during takeoff,'' the Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

The airport reopened at about 1530 hours, it said.

Dubai, one of seven emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates, is the biggest trade and tourism centre in the Gulf region. Dubai airport is the busiest in the West Asia and a major hub for transfers between Europe and Asia.

Some flights were cancelled, while others were delayed or transferred to nearby Abu Dhabi and Sharjah airports. Some passengers complained there was no information about their flights.

''It's crazy, I can't get any sense out of anyone,'' Joe Murphy, 73, in transit on his way from Australia to Britain, said during the closure. ''All I want to know is what's happening.'' ''First they told me the flight was on, then it was off,'' said Marc Latamie, 54, hoping to take a flight to Paris. ''I have no idea what is happening.'' The normally packed airport shopping area was deserted as passengers thronged information and transfer desks, left or were taken away on buses.

More than 28.7 million passengers and 1.4 million tonnes of freight passed through Dubai International Airport in 2006, according to its Web site (www.dubaiairport.com).

Biman, bailed out by a government loan last year, said in December it planned to lease four aircraft to enable it to resume flights on routes it had had to cut for lack of airworthy planes. Biman stopped flights to New York, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Brussels last year because of aircraft shortages.

It has been flying to 21 destinations with a fleet of 13 aircraft, two of which are grounded awaiting repairs.

REUTERS KR RK1638