UPDATE 3 - Air India Plane En Route Delhi-San Francisco Makes Emergency Landing In Russia - Source

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2023) An Air India plane traveling from Delhi to San Francisco made a successful emergency landing near the Russian Far Eastern city of Magadan due to a malfunction, an aviation source told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"AIC173 flight of Air India en route from Delhi to San Francisco, a Boeing 777 aircraft, decided to make an unplanned landing at the Magadan airfield (in Sokol) due to a malfunction. The landing was... safe," the source said.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsiya said the plane's crew had to commence an emergency landing due to a malfunction of one of the engines. There were 232 passengers and 11 crew members on board the plane, Rosaviatsiya added.

"If necessary, Rosaviatsiya is ready to promptly provide permission to Air India Limited for the arrival of an additional reserve aircraft," the agency said.

Transport prosecutor of Magadan Region Vitaly Druppov told Sputnik that Russian technicians are currently checking the jet in order to understand whether the issue can be fixed quickly.

Later in the day, Rosaviatsiya said that it had issued a permit to Air India Limited for the arrival of a reserve aircraft to collect the passengers. Its takeoff from New Delhi is scheduled for 9:35 p.m. Moscow time (18:35 GMT) on June 6, and the estimated time of arrival to Magadan is 6 a.

m. Moscow time (03:00 GMT) on June 7.

Aleksey Siorpas, the minister of transport of the Magadan Region, told Sputnik on Wednesday that Air India's reserve aircraft will land in the city of Magadan around 11 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday.

The ministers added that all the passengers were accommodated at a school near the airport and women with children or pregnant women were accommodated in the dormitory of a medical college in the city. All of them were provided with meals, and the situation was explained to them, Siorpas said, adding, however, that the passengers could not leave the premises of their places of accommodation as Russian border guards were with them.

An airport spokesperson told Sputnik that all the passengers are foreign citizens, including over 40 US nationals and several citizens of Canada.

Druppov told Sputnik on Wednesday that the departure of Air India's reserve aircraft was postponed to 8 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday as the plane will arrive only in the morning, adding that there were no complaints among passengers. He said all the passengers have been provided with warm blankets and meals, adding that the regional and airport authorities have done everything that depended on them.