A Boeing 737-800 jet was forced to make an emergency landing after engine problems caused dramatic bursts of flame during flight.
The Boeing 737, operated by Russian carrier S7 Airlines, took off from Novosibirsk International Airport (OVB) on December 8, 2023, only to run into problems midflight.
Local media reported that one of the engines caught fire, and rather than continuing to its destination in Moscow, the crew had to return to OVB for an emergency landing.
According to Chinese news outlet Xinhua, there were 176 people on board, but all were reported as being in good health on landing.
Xinhua said that a West Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office representative had confirmed that the passengers were being “accommodated in the airport building and a reserve aircraft was being prepared for the flight”.
A video of the incident showed one of the jet’s engines spouting flames sporadically.
There were reports on social media that both of the plane’s engines experienced failure and that passengers heard explosions during takeoff.
Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said it was the 10th Russian airline plane to have suffered a breakdown within eight days.
Tenth Russian airline plane suffered a breakdown within eight days.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 8, 2023
The S7 Boeing 737 returned to Tolmachevo due to both engines failing this morning. On takeoff, passengers heard the sounds of explosions and saw flames from the turbines, the transportation prosecutor's office… pic.twitter.com/RKU0Xi7rs8
It has been long reported that Russia is finding it difficult to repair its planes due to Western sanctions preventing the flow of parts and components into the country.