Air India passengers stranded in Russia's Magadan forced to sleep on school floor
Darpan News Desk IANS, 07 Jun, 2023 01:50 PM
New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) A video footage has surfaced on Twitter showing stranded Air India passengers forced to sleep on the floor of a school after their San Francisco-bound flight was diverted to Magadan in Russia due to a techincal snag.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the alternate flight was dispatched for the Magadan airport from Mumbai around 1 p.m. and it will take six hours to reach there.
"Once the flight reaches, the passengers will be flown to their destination which is San Francisco," he said.
Earlier, on Tuesday Air India flight AI173, from Delhi to San Francisco, was forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Magadan airport in Russia due to a technical issue with one of its engines, officials said.
The Air India spokesperson said that the ferry flight is carrying food and other essentials for our passengers.
"All of us at Air India are concerned about the passengers and staff and are making every effort possible to operate the ferry flight as soon as possible, and to ensure the health, safety, and security of all while they wait," said the airline in a statement issued on Wednesday.
"As we do not have any Air India staff based in the remote town of Magadan or in Russia, all ground support being provided to the passengers is the best possible in this unusual circumstance through our round the clock liaison with the Consulate General of India in Vladivostok, Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), local ground handlers, and the Russian authorities," it added.
In three separate incidents, the Customs Officials posted at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport have arrested three persons who were supplying 3 kg gold worth Rs 1.68 crore. A Customs Official said that all three are Indian nationals who arrived from Middle East. They were intercepted and held on the basis of intelligence inputs.
A soldier died of a gunshot wound at around 4.30 p.m on Wednesday. He was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier, it said. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region. He was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
Alok Kumar, DCP Special Cell, said: "On April 8, acting on a secret information, the police laid a trap near Ghazipur Subzi Mandi and two key members of the syndicate were finally held with 2 kg of heroin." During questioning, Mohammad Alam disclosed that he had been supplying heroin for the last two years to different people in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
In the last 24 hours, 441 doses were administered. The country has so far administered 220.66 crore vaccine doses. The active cases stand at 0.09 per cent and the recovery rate is 98.72 per cent.
"During checking, the police recovered 23 packets of heroin, weighing 24.295 kg, concealed in the enclosure of their car windows," the DGP said, adding that another chunk of 12 packets of heroin, weighing 12.620 kg, were recovered from the location disclosed by the accused.
On April 5, the ED had informed special judge Nagpal that it has found fresh evidence indicating Sisodia's involvement in the alleged excise policy scam, and the investigation is at a crucial stage. The court had extended the AAP leader's custody till April 17 in this case.
