Passengers sleep in rural Russian school after Air India flight diverted to Siberia

An Air India plane flying from Delhi to San Francisco was forced to divert and land at an airport in Russia’s Far East after it developed a technical issue with one of its engines, the airline said on Tuesday 6 June.

Footage shared on social media by Economic Times journalist Tarum Shukla shows a number of passengers sleeping on the floor of a school in Magadan.

Posting the video, he wrote that people onboard had not heard from Air India for 18 hours and that many were “getting anxious”.

A statement from Air India published later said the 216 passengers and 16 crew members were being offered support on the ground and accommodated in local hotels for the night.

The airline added that it planned to send a plane on Wednesday to pick them up and fly them to their original destination.