Cameroon’s disastrous World Cup build-up took another farcical twist on Thursday when a plane carrying the squad to Japan was forced to land in Bangkok, where it risks being stranded.
« The charter flight from Bombay landed at 0900 am (0200 GMT) because they had not received permission from Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines to fly over their airspace, » said an official at Bangkok International Airport.
« They asked for emergency landing permission, » said the official, who handles special flights.
The Boeing 757 carrying 30 passengers was destined for the city of Fukuoka in Japan, she said.
« They have yet to receive permission from the three countries, and they’re just waiting, » the official said, adding that Thai officials were helping the Africans procure the necessary permission to fly through their airspace.
It was not immediately clear why the flight took off from Bombay without prior clearance from the Southeast Asian countries.
The Indomitable Lions were already two days behind schedule after a dispute over player bonuses held them up in Paris for 48 hours.
The Olympic and African champions had been originally scheduled to arrive on Sunday at their training camp in Nakatsue village, deep in the mountains of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.
Nakatsue, whose 1,400 villagers rely on the lumber industry on the outskirts of a smouldering volcano, have spent some 100 million yendollars) to improve lodging and football facilities for camp training by Cameroon.
Because of the delay, Nakatsue villagers had to cancel several events, including a welcome ceremony and a practice match with local high school students.
Cameroon are due to play England in a World Cup warm up in Kobe in western Japan on Sunday.
Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, the 2000 Olympic Games champions, will launch their bid for Africa’s first World Cup trophy on June 1 when they face Group E rivals Ireland. Germany and Saudi Arabia make up the group.
