Plane breakdown leaves Russian APEC-bound reporters stranded in Portugal

A group of Russian journalists bound for the APEC summit in Peru will have to skip some of the summit’s events after a malfunction was discovered in the plane they were travelling in, TASS reports.

A part of the delegation resumed their journey to Lima aboard another plane of Special Flight Detachment Rossiya on Friday night, while others will have to wait for the breakdown to be fixed.

The malfunction, detected when the plane landed in Portugal for refueling, will require the delivery of spare parts from Moscow. The takeoff is tentatively scheduled for no earlier than 18:00 Moscow time Saturday. The flight from Lisbon to Lima takes about 11 hours.

Earlier in the day, this plane was escorted by Swiss fighter jets in the country’s airspace.