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Cambodian king Sihanouk postpones China trip |
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August 2, 2000
PHNOM PENH (AP) - Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk on Tuesday postponed a trip to China for a health checkup when the plane he was about to board began leaking fuel. The king and Queen Monique were shaking hands with officials on the runway of Phnom Penh's Pochentong airport at 7:45 a.m. (0045 GMT) when gasoline began dripping from a tank on the left wing of the national carrier Royal Air Cambodge Boeing 737 airplane. Because of the problem, Sihanouk returned to the royal palace in the Cambodian capital. A new departure date was not announced. Prime Minister Hun Sen, leading the well-wishers on the tarmac, said that Royal Air Cambodge, not the pilot, was to blame. He suggested the king wait a few days before taking a new flight. Hun Sen later told reporters that the government will launch an extensive investigation into the accident. "We will form a special committee led by the chief of national police because we are suspicious of the unusual nature of the technical problem," he said. The 77-year-old constitutional monarch makes regular trips to Beijing for medical examinations and has been treated there for minor strokes, diabetes and colon cancer over the past several years. Sihanouk's son and parliamentary speaker Prince Norodom Ranarridh told reporters last week that doctors in Phnom Penh had recently found small quantities of blood in the king's stool. The king had planned to remain in China for treatment until November, and then return to Cambodia Sihanouk has been at the center of Cambodian political life since the 1950s when he peacefully led his country to independence from French colonial rule. |
