The main runway at Malta International Airport was briefly closed this morning after a truck carrying concrete got stuck in mud close to the edge of the tarmac.

The incident was unrelated to the current activity involving evacuations from Libya. The truck was carrying concrete for the building of the new aviation park at Safi.

The incident delayed the departure of a chartered Shanghai Airlines Boeing 767 carrying workers evacuated from Libya. Other airlines using smaller aircraft resorted to the old, shorter, runway.

The runway was reopened at about 9.55 a.m.

A Maltese language newspaper reported this morning that the AFM has been practising the rapid blocking of runways and taxiways in case unauthorised aircraft try to land. The AFM has refused to comment.

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