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Hundreds of U.S.-bound passengers who were stranded in Russia are en route to San Francisco on a replacement flight, Air India said.
The flight took off from Magadan, Russia, at 10:27 a.m. local time Thursday (7:27 p.m. Wednesday ET) and is expected to arrive in San Francisco at 12:15 a.m. local time Thursday, the airline said on Twitter.
Air India said it was mobilizing additional support at the airport in San Francisco to carry out clearance formalities upon arrival of the flight, which is carrying all passengers and crew who were stranded.
“The team at SFO is prepared to provide all necessary assistance to the passengers, including but not limited to medical care, ground transportation, and onward connections in applicable cases,” it added, using the code for San Francisco International Airport.
The airline had been criticized over its decision to make an emergency landing in Russia amid geopolitical tension over the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted air routes. While U.S., European and Japanese carriers have stopped flying over Russia, Air India and other airlines have continued to do so.
The original Delhi-to-San-Francisco flight Tuesday was diverted to the remote port town in Russia’s far east after one of its engines developed a technical problem. Air India said that the plane landed safely and that local airport authorities “extended all cooperation and support upon the flight’s arrival.”
The airline sent a reserve plane Wednesday to pick up what it said were 216 passengers and 16 crew members on board. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Wednesday that fewer than 50 U.S. citizens were on the flight.
Passengers had expressed apprehension over the situation and complained about the conditions. Air India, which has no staff members based in Russia, said in an earlier statement that while it made “sincere attempts to accommodate passengers in hotels locally with the help of local government authorities,” passengers were “eventually moved to a makeshift accommodation.”
“We truly apologize for all the inconvenience caused,” the airline said on Twitter.
