Instead, for three days, more than 200 passengers became stuck in a remote town in Siberia, where overnight temperatures plunged to nearly -20 degrees Celsius.

The original Boeing 777-300ER plane was diverted to Irkutsk on Sunday after experiencing “a technical problem”, Air France said in a statement. The plane landed safely after reporting smoke in the cabin and none of the 280 people on board were hurt.

After realizing repairs couldn’t be done quickly enough on the ground, the airline sent a second B777 from Paris to the Russian city to pick up the stranded passengers. But that plane broke down as well upon arriving at the Irkutsk airport, according to the statement, forcing the French flag carrier to send a third B777 to Siberia.

The first two aircraft had been in service for more than 14 years, and the third one joined the Air France fleet nearly a decade ago. The twin-engine, widebody B777s are the workhorses of many airlines around the world. The three Air France B777-300ERs involved seat up to 318 passengers. The third and final aircraft finally made it to Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon with the unlucky fliers on board.

Air France expressed regret over the “exceptional situation” and apologized to the passengers in its statement, stressing safety was its top priority. It added that its team in Russia worked with local authorities to accommodate the affected customers, who would be contacted for “suitable” compensation.

Source: CNN