A rescue flight is underway to pick up 319 passengers on a SWISS Air Lines flight who have been stranded in Kazakhstan following a medical diversion that went wrong when their plane ended up taxiing off the runway into the mud.
The incident occurred on Saturday when SWISS flight LX161 from Tokyo Narita to Zurich was forced to make an emergency diversion to the Kazakh capital, Astana because one of the passengers was experiencing a medical emergency.
The Boeing 777 landed safely in Astana following a short detour from its planned flight path where the passenger was tended to by emergency responders and taken to a local hospital. It was at this point, however, that things started to go wrong.
According to a spokesperson for SWISS, after dropping off the sick passenger, the Boeing 777-300 was set to resume its journey to Zurich, but the departure from Astana turned out to be anything but smooth.
Unfortunately, the taxiway at Astana Airport was closed, so air traffic controllers asked the pilots to turn the 74-meter aircraft around at the end of the runway so that they could take-off.
It was during this maneuver that the front landing gear of the aircraft ended up coming off the runway and into the mud at the side of the tarmac.
The aircraft ended up stuck in the mud, and the passengers had to be deplaned and taken into the airport terminal while a plan was drawn up to get them out of Kazakhstan.
As SWISS Air Lines is part of the Lufthansa Group, the carrier was able to tap fellow group carrier Austrian who have arranged for a rescue flight to pick up the stranded passengers.
“SWISS confirms that the crew of flight LX161 from Tokyo to Zurich made a stopover in Astana (Kazakhstan) due to a medical incident on board,” the airline said in a statement posted to its official X account.
“The passenger concerned was handed over to medical personnel on site. The landing was uneventful,” the statement continued.
“As the taxiway at Astana airport was closed, the crew had to turn the aircraft on the runway. The aircraft’s nose wheel got caught in the grass. The aircraft had to be towed back onto the runway. The Boeing 777 aircraft will now be examined by specialists for damage.”
Frustratingly, however, Austrian Airlines plans to fly the passengers back to its home hub in Vienna, and from there, they will then have to be flown onto Zurich or rebooked onto other flights to their intended final destination.
Although the six-year-old aircraft was able to be towed back onto the runway, it will remain stuck in Astana until engineers have been able to examine it and ensure that no serious damage has been caused.
What’s for sure is that this is a pretty frustrating delay, which could have been even worse if it wasn’t for the fact that SWISS was able to work with a sister airline to organize a rescue flight so quickly.
