A Vietnam Airlines passenger plane was forced to abort its landing after buffalo wandered on to the runway.

According to Thanh Nien News, the aircraft was carrying 50 passengers from Danang to Haiphong on 4 July when the incident occurred. Having requested permission to land at Haiphong, the crew were informed that they would be unable to land as there was an “unidentified object” on the runway at Cat Bi International Airport.

The “unidentified object” turned out to be a buffalo, which had evaded the airport’s perimeter security and was grazing close to the runway.  The aircraft was forced to circle for several minutes before security guards were able to shoo the buffalo off the runway.

Airport authorities said they are investigating how the buffalo entered the airport.

Meet the Author