A kite forced the closure of Zhanjiang International Airport for half a day after it was found flying near the runway in the Guangdong port city over the weekend.

The incident took place at about 6:15 pm on Saturday, when a 2-metre-long kite was seen flying in the sky only 200 metres away from the runway.

After failing to locate the people who were flying the kite, the airport authority had to close the airport down. Two departing flights and four arrivals had to be cancelled or diverted to other airports, and 477 passengers were left stranded in airport waiting rooms overnight.

The airport returned to normal operation 12 hours later on the early Sunday morning when the kite fell into farmland nearby.

Guangzhou Daily