Air India said on Wednesday it had dispatched a rescue plane after a flight from New Delhi to San Francisco had to land in eastern Russia due to engine failure.
The flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew members was heading to Magadan on Russia’s east coast, more than 5,900 km from Moscow, on Tuesday evening.
Due to “limited infrastructure around the remote airport”, passengers were accommodated in a “temporary shelter” in the city, Air India said in a statement.
“Our transfer flight AI195 from Mumbai to Magadan, Russia has already started,” Air India said in a statement, noting that the replacement aircraft was due to arrive at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. morning (Wednesday 19:30 GMT).
“The transfer flight will take all passengers and crew to San Francisco,” he said.
The airline did not provide any information on whether there were US citizens on board in Magadan, as tensions between Moscow and Washington are high, particularly over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said the United States was monitoring the situation closely.
“I cannot confirm at this time how many US citizens were on the plane,” he said. “It was a plane bound for the United States, so of course it is likely that there were American citizens on board.”
Source: The Delfi
