282 Air France passengers stranded in freezing Siberia for 3 days after emergency stop en route to Shanghai
Passengers on an Air France flight en route to Shanghai were left stranded in freezing Siberia for three days after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing and their replacement plane suffered a technical issue.
The flight from Paris to Shanghai was forced to land in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Sunday after smoke and an "acrid" smell filled the cabin, AFP reported. 282 passengers were on board.
"The crew of AF116 on a Boeing 777 from Paris to Shanghai decided to divert to Irkutsk in Russia after an acrid smell and light smoke appeared on board," the airline told AFP. No one was injured.
The passengers were brought to a hotel, but their replacement plane on Monday was unable to take off due to technical difficulties, The Moscow Times reported. Both planes are Boeing 777s.
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The passengers don't have the right clothes for the Siberian cold and are under constant police protection as they don't have Russian visas, according to the newspaper.
Irkutsk is in southeastern Siberia, a region famed for its cold weather. The temperature this week in Irkutsk has been around 9° F (-12° C).
A third Air France plane managed to pick up the passengers on Wednesday morning Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
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