BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Monday reversed plans to expel an 18-year-old Saudi woman stranded at Bangkok airport after fleeing her family from Kuwait due to concerns over her safety, the immigration chief said.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, has been stranded at Bangkok airport since Saturday when she was denied entry by Thai immigration officials.

On Monday, she barricaded herself inside an airport transit hotel to avoid being escorted to board a Kuwait Airways flight scheduled for that morning.

“The flight this morning was via Kuwait Airlines to send her back to Saudi Arabia,” chief of immigration police Surachate Hakparn told reporters.

He also told reporters he would meet UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, later in the day to discuss her asylum plans.