MOSCOW: Russia’s aviation body Rosaviatsya will investigate an incident on a Rossiya plane taking Saudi Arabia to a World Cup game in Rostov-on-Don.
The Interfax news agency, citing Rosaviatsya, said that during the landing there was a brief fire on one of the engines, but the landing took place with the two engines in operation and there was no threat to passenger safety.
A statement added: “Rosaviatsya will investigate reasons for this accident involving all related parties, including the company which developed and produced the engine.”
Social and Saudi media footage also appeared to show one of the engines catching fire, but a spokesman for airline Rossiya denied a fire had occurred and said the fault was due to a bird strike.
The team were travelling on a Rossiya Airbus A319 from St Petersburg to Rostov-on-Don, where they are due to play their second Group A match against Uruguay on Wednesday.
A Rossiya spokesman asaid: “As it came in to land, the plane suffered a technical fault with one of its engines, with a bird getting caught seen as the preliminary cause.
“Nothing threatened the safety of the passengers. The aircraft’s landing took place in a routine fashion. No warning was sounded during the landing.”
Videos shared on social media showed an aircraft that posters identified as the Saudi team’s plane with its wing on fire while it was in the air.
The footage, which Reuters was unable to verify independently, was shared by civil aviation monitoring website Airlive.net, which said the fire broke out on the approach to Rostov airport.
A video on the social media account of Saudi local paper Al Yaum showed flames issuing from under the plane’s starboard wing against the dark backdrop of the sky, with the wing glowing bright orange.
A photograph shared by state-owned Saudi television channel al-Ekhbariya, also taken from inside the plane, showed a flame shooting out from under the wing just as it was touching down on the landing strip.
The Saudi federation released photographs of the players smiling and looking calm as they boarded a bus for the Mercure Hotel in central Rostov.
The team, who are making their first appearance at the World Cup since 2006, suffered the biggest defeat in the tournament so far when they were thrashed 5-0 by hosts Russia in the opening game in Moscow on Thursday.
Captain Osama Hawsawi said: “I want to reassure you that we got to Rostov safely, it was a simple technical fault in the airplane but thank God we are now in the hotel and things are good.”
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