Taipei: Several flights between Taiwan and the Japanese city of Sendai were canceled Wednesday after a powerful earthquake off Russia's eastern coast forced the closure of the runway at Sendai Airport, according to three Taiwanese airlines. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday morning, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue a tsunami warning for parts of Japan's Pacific coast and leading to the shutdown of Sendai Airport.

According to Focus Taiwan, in the afternoon, Taiwan's EVA Airways and Starlux Airlines announced the cancellation of flights to and from Sendai scheduled for Wednesday. EVA Air stated that its Taipei-Sendai round-trip flights for Wednesday were canceled, and Thursday's service would be operated using a larger Airbus A330-300 to accommodate affected passengers.

Tigerair Taiwan also canceled its Kaohsiung-Sendai flight, citing the continued closure of the airport.