Saudi Arabia national football team land safely in Rostov after plane fire

The team was travelling from St Petersburg to Rostov-on-Don where they are scheduled to play their second Group A match against Uruguay on June 20.

Saudi Arabia’s national soccer team safely landed in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don on June 18 after the engine of the aircraft carrying the players caught fire. The team was travelling from St Petersburg to Rostov-on-Don where they are scheduled to play their second Group A match against Uruguay on June 20. As learned from several media reports, the Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviasta stated that there was a brief fire on one of the engines of the aircraft Rossiya Airbus A319 during the landing. The airlines have also released a statement which said, “The plane suffered a technical fault with one of its engines, with a bird getting caught seen as the preliminary cause.” “Nothing threatened the safety of the passengers. The aircraft's landing took place in a routine fashion. No warning was sounded during the landing,” the statement added. Meanwhile, footage of the incident also surfaced on the social media where it could be clearly seen that one of the engines catching fire. Here’s the video:

PASSENGER FOOTAGE: Watch #KSA plane engine catching fire as they land in Rostov-on-Don for their #WorldCup matchday 2 game against #URU . pic.twitter.com/Yq3QQ1MtZ1

— Ahdaaf (@ahdaafme) June 18, 2018

On the other hand, the Saudi Arabia Football Federation has notified in a social post that all the players who were travelling on the plane are safe.

????| The Saudi Arabian Football Federation would like to reassure everyone that all the Saudi national team players are safe, after a technical failure in one of the airplane engines that has just landed in Rostov-on-Don airport, and now they’re heading to their residence safely.

— Saudi National Team (@SaudiNT_EN) June 18, 2018

| Our Saudi national team arrives at Rostov-on-Don safely#Worldcup#KSA#URUKSA pic.twitter.com/Lj5IUIwiWL

— Saudi National Team (@SaudiNT_EN) June 18, 2018

Saudi Arabia are making their first appearance at the World Cup since 2006. They suffered a huge defeat against Russia by 5-0 in the opening game on June 14 in Moscow.