Air India sends plane after US-bound jet stops in Russia

NEW DELHI: Air India has sent a relief airplane after a jet from New Delhi to San Francisco had to land in eastern Russia with an engine problem, the airline said on Wednesday. The flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew was diverted to Magadan on Russia´s eastern coast, over 5,900-km from Moscow, on Tuesday night. With “infrastructural limitations around the remote airport”, passengers were put up in “makeshift accommodation” in the town, Air India said in a statement.

Air India said that the replacement airplane took off from Mumbai. It was expected to arrive at 6:30 am Thursday (1930 GMT Wednesday). “The aircraft operating the ferry flight will take all passengers and crew onward to San Francisco”, it added. Up to 50 passengers were US citizens, the State Department said, but it did not report any issues, as tensions flare between Washington and Moscow over the Ukraine war. “We´re not aware of any outreach from some of these American citizens to our embassy and consular officials in Russia,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.