NZ PM's plane makes emergency landing after turbulence

A plane carrying New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark made an emergency landing Wednesday morning after a door blew open during the flight.

Clark was safe but with a "bruised arm," said local press.

The Rescue Coordination Center said it received a mayday call after her aircraft lost the door and the plane landed safely just before 9 a.m. local time (2100 GMT, Tuesday).

Clark was sitting at the back of a six-seater Piper Aztec plane from Rotorua, a city in the North Island, with a press secretary and two police officers, when they struck severe turbulence.

Clark told local National Radio that the door of the plane then swung open. She said her left arm was badly bruised in the incident.

Clark said that she feared for her life during the incident.

"When the plane plunges like that, it's obviously quite shocking," Clark said.

"When you see the door can't close you know that it is a serious incident".

A rescue control center spokeswoman said the aircraft made a distress call shortly before it was due to land at Paraparaumu Airport.

Keith Mackenzie, managing director of Mountain Air planes, confirmed that the Prime Minister was on one of the company's Piper Aztec planes on a flight from Rotorua to Wellington Wednesday morning.

Mackenzie said they are conducting an investigation to ascertain what caused the problem.

Up to filing this report, the Prime Minister's office still can not be reached by Xinhua for more details.

Source: Xinhua