San Francisco-bound Air India passengers finally rescued after more than 24 hours stranded in Russia

Hundreds of Air India passengers who were stranded in Russia for more than 24 hours after their plane was diverted have finally arrived in California.

The original flight that departed from New Delhi bound for San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing in the Russian port town of Magadan on Tuesday after a technical glitch was reported in one of the engines of the Boeing 777 aircraft.

The more than 200 passengers were then forced to sleep on the floor in a Siberian school classroom in the remote town on the Sea of Okhotsk.

Air India confirmed in the early hours of Thursday that a replacement flight had successfully completed the journey to San Francisco, touching down at 12.07am local time.

“All our passengers are being extended maximum on-ground assistance with clearance formalities and provided other necessary support,” the airline tweeted. “Air India thanks government agencies, regulatory authorities, our staff and partners involved in supporting our endeavour to bring our passengers to SFO as soon as possible and in providing them care while they waited in Magadan, Russia.”

The aircraft was carrying “many US nationals”, according to a passenger who spoke to The Independent on Wednesday before the replacement flight.

Deepak Ballari said that there was growing frustration among the group about their makeshift accommodation sleeping on the floor in a school, as well as at a lack of contact and information from their airline.

“Nearly seven hours after we left Delhi, we were told that the one of the aircraft’s engines was malfunctioning and the plane will land in Russia after dumping the excess fuel it was carrying, leading to the first wave of panic and concern,” said Mr Ballari.

“We were then made to wait inside the aircraft for an hour while the plane was stationed on the runway in this remote location,” he said, adding that the passengers were made to wait again in a bus around 6pm local time.

The 216 passengers were hungry and remained clueless on what the carrier would do to help them speedily leave Russia, Mr Ballari said. “This is harassment. We have not seen a single soul from Air India after landing here to pacify our concerns.

“Somehow after hours we were shifted to a local school around 2am and were finally given bread and butter by locals, not Air India,” he said. The passengers were given mattresses in a dormitory to sleep on as they awaited rescue.

The aircraft on Tuesday had several senior citizens onboard, including an asthmatic patient, who had critical medicines inside their checked-in luggage on the flight.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the passengers had received no access to their luggage and essential supplies packed for the original destination, The Independent learned.

These passengers included infants and elderly people who were on their way to visit their children in the US.

“We have no idea where the Air India crew and the pilot are. Not even a single representative from the air carrier has been seen after landing here,” Mr Ballari said.

“We learnt that they have been taken to a hotel far from this school where we are stationed, but 24 hours on, we have no idea on which aircraft and which official is assuring us of our evacuation.”

Videos on social media showed several senior citizens pleading with authorities to arrange for an early evacuation as their health remained a concern. Many were unable to use their credit cards because of the sanctions on Russia over its Ukraine invasion.

“No official @airindia representative present at the accommodation. Been almost 24 hours since landing in Magadan. Just 4 bathrooms for 216 passengers, some with health conditions. Very limited food options. Not even a single concrete update yet from the airline,” tweeted another passenger, calling the conditions “miserable”.

Air India on Wednesday issued a statement on the diversion of flight AI173.

“Given the infrastructure limitations around the remote airport, we can confirm that all passengers were eventually moved to a makeshift accommodation, after making sincere attempts to accommodate passengers in hotels locally with the help of locally with the help of local government authorities,” it said.

The US State Department said it was “closely monitoring the situation”.

“We are aware of a US-bound flight that had to make an emergency landing in Russia and are continuing to monitor that situation closely,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told the media.

“I am not able to confirm how many US citizens were aboard the flight at this time,” he said and added that it is “of course likely that there are American citizens on board”.

The question of how quickly a safe repair of the US-built $200m plane can be carried out has also come under scrutiny as India’s federal civil aviation minister said mechanics were en route to Russia on board the Mumbai plane, and were carrying spare parts to repair the aircraft.

“I don’t know how long it will take to repair that aircraft but passengers will be taken to their ultimate destination,” minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.