The Saudi Arabian Football Federation said on Monday its national soccer team landed safely in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don after what it described as a minor technical fault in one of the engines.
Videos shared on social media appeared to show the Airbus A319-100 with its wing on fire while it was in the air, after departing from Moscow
"All the Saudi national team players are safe, after a technical failure in one of the airplane engines that has just landed," the federation said a statement on Twitter.Saudi Arabian national football team lands safely despite minor engine failure causing plane wing to catch fire on way to #WorldCup match in Russia's Rostovhttps://t.co/Pjogt7pZdh pic.twitter.com/P6nvCCsy61
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) June 18, 2018
The team posted photos of the players exiting the plane and smiling Monday night but did not release further details of the engine problem.
One of the Saudi players, Hatan Bahbir, said in a video on the federation's Twitter account: "We arrived safely and we are all fine... it was a simple malfunction'."
In the video, someone off-camera asks him if he was scared. He replies: "No, no. Well, of course we were scared a bit, but thank God."
Saudi Arabia faces Uruguay on Wednesday for its second Group A matchup after a stunning shutout loss to Russia on the opening day of the World Cup. Uruguay edged Egypt 1-0 in its first game in Group A.
