Panic aboard Air India flight, full of American passengers, forced to land in Russia

2023-06-07 14:58:47

Disaster scenario for the 216 passengers and 16 crew members on board an Air India flight. They boarded on Tuesday to reach San Francisco from New Delhi, but their journey had to come to a halt when the plane, a Boeing 777, developed engine problems, explains airline press release. The pilot was then forced to land at Magadan Sokol Airport, in Russia.

This is enough to worry the families of the passengers, among whom probably many Americans, according to Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department, quoted by Reuterswhile relations between Moscow and Washington are particularly tense in the light of the war in ukraine. “There are a lot of nervous people here,” according to a passenger interviewed by Indian broadcaster NDTV.

Rudimentary support

Travelers were picked up in “makeshift accommodation”, according to Air India. According to images posted on social networks by one of the passengers on site, the conditions seem extremely rudimentary. People, sometimes elderly, are lying on the ground, close to each other.

Yesterday, @AirIndia flight 173 from Delhi to San Francisco was diverted to Magadan, in rural Russia w/ over 220, mostly elderly, passengers.

Sat in plane for 6 hrs & after 18 hrs now, no word from Air India, @MEAIndia.

Here is a just taken video from a jittery passenger : pic.twitter.com/n6qymnvXrc

— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) June 7, 2023

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

Clicking on ” I ACCEPT », you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our “I accept for today” button in the banner below.

More information on the page Cookie management policy.

Now another plane is on its way to Magadan with a team from Air India “to provide all the support passengers and staff may need,” Air India said in a recent message. posted on social media. However, the crew, basic necessities and food are on board this rescue plane. It will take off with all the passengers on June 8 to reach San Francisco. Regarding the damaged plane, “I don’t know how long it will take to repair the plane, but the passengers will be taken to their final destination,” India’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. to journalists.