"Monitoring situation," says US after Air India flight diverted to Russia

WASHINGTON: The United States has said that it is continuing to closely monitor the situation after a San Francisco-bound Air India flight made an emergency landing in Russia.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson, for the US Department of State, Vedant Patel has said that the department is aware of the US-bound flight that had to make an emergency landing in Russia on Tuesday.

Flight AI173 from Delhi-San Francisco was diverted to Magadan in Russia due to an engine glitch, the airline said in a statement on June 6 evening. The flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew landed safely.

Addressing a press briefing here, Patel said, "I'm not able to confirm how many US citizens were aboard the flight at this time. It was a flight that was bound for the United States.

So, it is, of course, likely that there are American citizens on board." Responding to a media query, the deputy spokesperson said that Air India is sending a replacement aircraft.

"As you probably also saw, there's public reporting from Air India that they are sending a - what my understanding is - a replacement aircraft to the destination to have the passengers carry on for their route, but I would defer to the air carrier to speak to anything further on this."

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Delhi-San Francisco Air India flight was diverted to Russia's Magadan due to an engine glitch, the airline said. "Air India flight AI173 of date operating from Delhi to San Francisco developed a technical issue with one of its engines.

The flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew was diverted and landed safely in Magadan airport in Russia," Air India said in a statement.

"The passengers are being provided all support on the ground and will be provided alternate options to reach their destinations at the earliest. The aircraft is undergoing the mandatory checks on the ground. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers," it added.

Meanwhile, the US Department of State spokesperson Patel told reporters at the press briefing, "And of course, we'll let Air India speak to any steps that they're taking as it relates to mitigating the technical issues."