Two Kiwi travellers who say they were interrogated and detained in a high-security immigration "detention centre" under armed guard during an unexpected Chinese stopover are claiming human rights breaches and seeking compensation from their airline.
Jennie de Jong, 23, and Sinead Watson, 24, were returning from an enjoyable six-month European jaunt when they became trapped in a "journey from hell".

The friends had travelled to Istanbul to catch flights home to Auckland via Beijing where they planned to spend a 72-hour transit sightseeing in the city. But during the August 11 flight to China's capital, the pair were surprised to hear an in-flight announcement that they would be making a "one-hour stopover" at Urumqi - a city of four million people in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, 3700km from Beijing.

Travel documents and boarding passes made no mention of the Urumqi diversion.

When they got off the China Southern Airlines plane, their travel papers were scrutinised by immigration officers. They say they were told Urumqi issued only 24-hour visa exemptions - not 72-hour exemptions as Beijing does.

Since their Beijing flight wasn't leaving the country for another two days, officials refused to let them travel on. When the distressed pair tried to bring forward their connecting flight, they said "rude and unhelpful" staff at the China Southern Airlines ticket office allegedly claimed it would cost them US$5000 ($7900)...