Russian passenger jet with 116 on board makes safe emergency landing

MOSCOW. July 2. KAZINFORM A Russian Tu-154 passenger jet with 116 passengers on board has made a safe emergency landing in the western Siberian city of Yekaterinburg, a spokesman from the Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsiya said on Saturday.

According to RIA Novosti, the plane departed Yekaterinburg at 4:15 p.m. local time (10:15 GMT) on Saturday for the southern city of Minarlnye Vody, but was redirected to its point of departure due to technical problems in one of its engines, an airport spokesman in Yekaterinburg said.

"The captain reported to air traffic controllers that there were problems with the engine and decided to return to the airport of departure," the Rosaviatsiya spokesman said.

He said the Uralskie Airlines plane had lost power in one of its three engines and the pilot had to burn off fuel near Yekaterinburg before making an emergency landing at Koltsovo Airport.

"The aircraft landed at 4:31 p.m. Moscow time [12:31 GMT] and no one was injured during the landing," he said.