After a technical error left passengers aboard a 10-hour Air France flight from Bengaluru to Paris stranded in Turkmenistan for a second day, consular officials from the Embassy of India in Turkmenistan assured them of “full support”.
In a post on X, the Embassy shared two pictures with the stranded passengers and said, “Consular Officials of the Embassy met the Indian passengers of Air France Flight AF 191, which made an emergency landing at Ashgabat Airport earlier today and assured them of the Embassy's full support for their smooth onward journey to Paris.”
Here's what happened:
According to The Independent, Air France flight AF191 was scheduled to depart from Bengaluru at 2:00 AM on Monday, 12 January. However, the flight was delayed in the city for 21 hours due to a technical issue.
Finally, the 10-hour flight to Paris took off at 11:22 PM. It flew normally over India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, but had to make an emergency stop four hours later.
According to the report, one of the engines of the Air France flight had developed a fault over Turkmenistan airspace, causing it to descend and touch down at Ashgabat Airport an hour later.
When will stranded passengers reach Paris?
The stranded passengers are expected to depart for Paris on Wednesday, 14 January, at 1:00 PM local time.
“The flight AF191 is now scheduled to resume not today but Wednesday at 1 PM with a spare aircraft. Passengers are stranded 33 hours at the airport,” the aviation news service Airlive reported.
According to information on Flightradar24, a replacement Air France aircraft departed from Paris CDG to Ashgabat early on Tuesday afternoon to rescue the passengers. The replacement flight was scheduled to arrive at 8.27 PM on Tuesday.
Once the crew are rested, the report said that a 1 PM departure on Wednesday for Paris looked plausible.
Turkmenistan – ‘weirdest city ever’
Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet, said Ashgabat was the “weirdest city ever”, claiming that it was even stranger than North Korea’s capital.
“Pyongyang was easily the weirdest city I’d ever seen until I arrived in Ashgabat. It felt like some dystopian, post-disaster movie set where the buildings are untouched, but the people are all gone,” he wrote.
Turkmenistan reportedly has very strict visa regulations and requires a letter of invitation issued by an authorised travel agent, as well as a payment of around $50 (approximately ₹4,507).
According to its Foreign Office, “All travellers by air must undergo a Covid-19 test upon arrival at Ashgabat airport, which costs $31 ( ₹2,795).”
Payment must be made in cash.
