Saudi Arabia World Cup team's plane catches fire, players land safely in Rostov

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.”