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Hundreds line up for Hong Kong Airlines’ free tickets to Japan, with lucky winners unfazed by country’s discharge of Fukushima waste water
- Airline holds second leg of ticket giveaway under ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign, days after Tokyo begins releasing treated waste water from Fukushima nuclear plant
- Ticket winners mostly unconcerned by contamination fears, but believe Hong Kong authorities should take some precautions
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Hundreds of people lined up in a Hong Kong shopping district on Sunday to get their hands on 450 free round-trip flight tickets to Japan, with some in the queue unfazed by the country’s decision to discharge nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean.
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Hong Kong Airlines continued its two-day ticket giveaway as part of a government campaign to help revive the local economy after three years of health restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first 450 people in the queue outside Fashion Walk in Causeway Bay by 9am would receive one of the free flight tickets, with all spots in the line already filled by 6.44am, the carrier announced on Facebook.
But the giveaway follows Japan’s initial discharge of treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, which prompted Hong Kong to introduce a ban on aquatic products from 10 of the country’s prefectures.
Tokyo has repeatedly stressed that the waste water – which is tied to the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima – is safe. The plan also received clearance from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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