Air India flight heads to San Francisco after emergency landing in Russia

Magadan: An Air India aircraft carrying stranded passengers and crew from a previous flight that made an emergency landing in a remote part of Russia has departed the country’s airspace and is headed to San Francisco.

Aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 last showed the Boeing Co. 777 flying over Alaska. It is due to land in San Francisco at 12:15 am local time, Air India said in a statement. The carrier said it will provide assistance to passengers, including medical care, ground transport and onward connections.

The relief flight - among the most tracked worldwide on FlightRadar - was sent to pick up the 16 crew and 216 passengers from the port city of Magadan in Russia’s far east after their original flight from New Delhi to San Francisco had to make an emergency landing due to an engine problem.

It’s been more than 50 hours since Flight AI173 departed India’s capital on Tuesday. After the plane landed in Magadan, passengers and crew were moved to makeshift accommodation “given the infrastructural limitations around the remote airport,” Air India said.