600 S. Koreans to head home from typhoon-hit Saipan

Up to 600 of the roughly 1,600 South Koreans who are stranded on the typhoon-hit Pacific island of Saipan will head home Sunday, with the rest set to return the following day, Seoul officials said.

According to officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other sources, Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-biggest carrier, and low-cost carriers -- Jeju Air Co. and T'Way Air Co. -- plan to send one plane each Sunday to bring them home.

The Asiana Airlines sent a 302-seat B777 passenger jet to Saipan at 7:30 am It is set to depart from a Saipan airport at 2:30 pm and arrive at Incheon International Airport at 6:10 pm, S. Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

Jeju Air Co. and T'Way Air Co. also plan to each fly a 189-seat B737 plane to the US territory of Guam, where some of the South Koreans were airlifted from Saipan after Super Typhoon Yutu hit the island earlier last week.

The South Korean government has deployed military aircraft to airlift South Koreans in Saipan to Guam. From Saturday to Sunday, its military aircraft, which can carry up to 80 people, transported more than 160 South Koreans to Guam from Saipan. The government plans to airlift an additional 300 people to Guam on Sunday.