Passengers on an Air Busan flight bound for Gimhae International Airport from Taiwan said Sunday that they were required to stay on board their plane for six hours after bad weather forced a diversion to Incheon.

The BX798 flight with 206 people on board left Taipei at 3:10 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Busan on 6:10 a.m., but it was sent to Incheon International Airport (IIA) as heavy fog made landing difficult.

Passengers claimed that troubles began once the plane touched down at IIA at 6:30 a.m. The crew asked for patience as they were checking the weather at the final destination, but after being told to stay put for the whole morning, passengers were asked to disembark shortly after noon so they could wait in the airport lounge.

This required people to go through the hassle of another security check as they reboarded their plane at 4 p.m.

"Factors beyond the control of the airline and crew were involved, but many travelers were disappointed by the way Air Busan handled the situation," a passenger said.

An airline official said the incident was caused by the crew believing the weather at Busan would improve soon. He added that there were complications involved in passengers going through security at Incheon since BX798 was not scheduled to land there. (Yonhap)