A boarding bridge sank in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Saturday afternoon, damaging the cabin door of an airplane docked to it.

No one was injured in the accident.

The flight, a China Southern Airlines Airbus A300, arrived behind schedule at the airport after flying three hours from Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. A total of 109 passengers were waiting to board the plane, originally scheduled to fly to Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province at 1:50 p.m.

The accident occurred at 2 p.m. when the arriving passengers had left and departing passengers had not yet started boarding. Only a few stewards and stewardesses were on the plane and no one was on the boarding bridge.

The 109 passengers flew three hours later on another flight to Wenzhou while authorities investigated. An airport analyst said a failure in the fluid driving system that supported the boarding bridge might be responsible.

It was the new airport's first accident reported. The airport lounge roof reportedly leaked under heavy rain half a month after it entered usage in early August last year.

(Shenzhen Daily April 26, 2005)