A San Francisco-bound plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Russia’s Siberia due to an engine problem, leaving passengers stranded in the country’s far east on Wednesday.
In a statement released Wednesday, Air India said Flight 173, took off from New Dehli Tuesday evening, and “developed a technical issue with one of its engines.”
The Boeing 777, carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members, later landed at Russia’s Magadan airport in Siberia.
The airport is in a port town located on the Sea of Okhotsk.
No injuries reported, passengers being provided support in Siberia
No injuries were reported by the airline.
After safely landing, the statement said, the plane underwent safety checks and the passengers were being provided support on the ground.
Information from the tracking site FlightAware.comshows the plane took off at 5 p.m. local time was slated to land in San Francisco International Airport at 8:05 p.m (CT).
On Wednesday morning, the airline said a replacement plane took off from Mumbai to Magadan so that the stranded passengers could continue their travel to the U.S.
That aircraft is expected to take passengers to San Francisco on Thursday, the airline said.
“The ferry flight is carrying essentials in addition to sufficient amount of food to cater to all passengers on the onward flight scheduled from GDX to San Francisco,” the airline said Wednesday.
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How many American citizens were on the flight?
Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said US citizens were likely on the flight but could not immediately confirm how many.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation,” Patel said.
Girvaan Kaahma, 16, was traveling on the flight with his uncle and brother, the Associated Press reported. The teen told the outlet he and his fellow passengers are forbidden from leaving the Magadan hostel they are staying in and cannot use their credit cards “to buy items from the vending machine” due to sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The airline activated a “round-the-clock” hotline Wednesday morning for those concerned about passengers: +91 124 264 1427.
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AP Writer Jerome Minerva contributed from the U.S and Krutika Pathi from New Delhi.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
