After a technical glitch left passengers aboard a simple 10-hour Air France flight from Bengaluru to Paris stranded in Turkmenistan for the next day, consular officials from the Embassy of India in Turkmenistan assured “full support”.
In a post on X, the embassy shared two pictures of the stranded passengers and said: “Embassy consular officials met the Indian passengers of Air France Flight AF 191, which made an emergency landing at Ashgabat Airport today, and assured them of the full support of the Embassy for their smooth journey to Paris.
What happened:
According to The Independent, Air France flight AF191 was scheduled to depart Bengaluru at 2am on Monday, January 12. But the flight was delayed in the city by 21 hours due to a technical fault.
Finally, the 10-hour flight to Paris took off at 11.22pm – normally flying over India, Pakistan and Afghanistan – but had to make an emergency stop 4 hours later.
According to the report, one of the engines of the Air France flight malfunctioned over the airspace of Turkmenistan, which landed at Ashgabat airport an hour later.
When will stranded passengers get to Paris?
The stranded passengers are expected to depart for Paris on Wednesday 14 January at 1pm local time.
“Flight AF191 is now scheduled to resume not today but on Wednesday at 1pm with a replacement aircraft. Passengers have been stranded at the airport for 33 hours,” aviation news service Airlive reported.
According to information on Flightradar24, a replacement Air France plane departed from Paris CDG to Ashgabat early Tuesday afternoon to rescue the passengers. The replacement flight was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday at 20:27.
With the crew rested, the report said a 1pm departure for Paris on Wednesday looked plausible.
Turkmenistan – “The strangest city ever”
Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet, said Ashgabat was “the strangest city ever” and claimed it was even stranger than the capital of North Korea.
“Pyongyang was easily the strangest city I’d ever seen until I arrived in Ashgabat. It felt like I was in some dystopian post-disaster movie where the buildings are intact but all the people are gone,” he wrote.
Turkmenistan reportedly has very strict visa regulations and requires an invitation letter issued by an authorized travel agency and a payment of approximately US$50 ( ₹4.507).
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “All air travelers must undergo a Covid-19 test upon arrival at Ashgabat Airport, which costs US$31 ( ₹2,795).
Payment must be made in cash.
