An Air China flight from London Heathrow to China landed in Russia this morning due to an engine “malfunction”.
The Beijing-bound aircraft carrying more than 250 people was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Siberia early on Tuesday (26 August).
According to data from FlightAware, the Air China Boeing 777 landed at Nizhnevartovsk airport in the Russian region of Khanty-Mansi after departing London at 10.43pm last night.
The aircraft landed at around 8.17am local time after experiencing engine problems over Russian airspace five and a half hours into the journey to Beijing.
Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil aviation authority, said: “While flying from London to Beijing, the crew of an Air China Boeing 777-300 decided to land at an alternate airfield in Russia,
“The preliminary cause was a malfunction of one of the engines,” reported Reuters.
It added that Air China will send a reserve plane to Nizhnevartovsk and continue the journey to Beijing later today.
Flight CA856 usually takes more than nine hours to travel between the UK and the Chinese capital.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) currently advises against all travel to Russia due to the risks from its continuing invasion of Ukraine.
It is not known how many British citizens are on board the Air China flight.
The Independent has contacted Air China and the FCDO for comment.
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