Global Courant
A replacement aircraft for an Air India flight, diverted to Russia due to an engine problem, landed in San Francisco on Thursday with all passengers and crew on board, the airline said.
The original Boeing 777, which departed New Delhi with 216 passengers and 16 crew members, landed at Magadan Airport in Siberia in Russia’s far east on Tuesday.
The original plane indicated it had low oil pressure in one engine and “out of caution (the pilots) chose to land the plane at a nearby airport rather than continue the journey,” the airline said in a statement. .
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The replacement plane arrived in San Francisco at 12:07 a.m. local time Thursday, according to the website Flight Aware.
The airline also said it would refund passengers fares in full and provide them with vouchers for future travel on Air India.
An Air India plane flying from New Delhi to San Francisco landed in Russia after it developed an engine problem, officials said on June 7, 2023 The plane has now successfully landed in San Francisco, California on June 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, file)
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said fewer than 50 U.S. citizens were on the plane and the Department was unaware that any of them contacted the U.S. embassy in Russia or other diplomatic posts.
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Passenger Girvaan Singh Kahma, 16, who was traveling with his uncle and brother, said they were not allowed to leave the hostel in Magadan and could not use their credit cards due to sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“The first day and a half was very difficult for all of us,” he said. “The weather went down to 3 to 4 degrees in the morning and it was bitterly cold at night,” he said, adding that things got better with food and a place to sleep.
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“The Russian soldiers, the Russian police, the authorities, everyone who works in the hostel have treated us extremely well,” he said.
