Air India flight diverted: A Delhi-San Francisco Air India flight was diverted to Magadan in Russia after it developed a mid-air technical glitch in one of its engines.
In a statement, the Tata Group-owned private carrier informed that the flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew onboard was diverted and landed safely at Magadan Airport in Russia.
Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday said it was closely monitoring the situation.
US monitoring situation
“We are aware of a US-bound flight that had to make an emergency landing in Russia and are continuing to monitor that situation closely. I’m not able to confirm how many US citizens were aboard the flight at this time,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at his daily news conference.
“It was a flight that was bound for the United States. So, it is, of course, likely that there are American citizens on board. There’s public reporting from Air India that they are sending – what my understanding is – a replacement aircraft to the destination to have the passengers carry on for their route, but I would defer to the air carrier to speak to anything further on this,” Patel said in response to a question.
Departure of replacement flight delayed
However, departure of the replacement Air India flight to fly out the passengers stranded in Magadan has been delayed. Air India officials were working through regulatory issues in order to operate the flight.
The stranded Air India passengers in Magadan were accommodated in dormitories as hotel infrastructure in the area was unable to cope with the number of passengers on the flight.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER