A plane carrying Saudi Arabia’s World Cup squad caught fire during a flight to Rostov on Monday.
Despite the incident, the aircraft was able to land safely and the team are continuing their preparations for their group game against Uruguay on Wednesday.
A statement has since been posted to social media by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, confirming that ‘all the Saudi national team players are safe,’ and explaining the fire was a result of ‘a technical failure in one of the airplane engines’.
📄| #الاتحاد_السعودي_لكرة_القدم يطمئن كافة المتابعين للمنتخب الوطني بوصول أفراد البعثة إلى مقر إقامتهم بمدينة روستوف أون دون. pic.twitter.com/kUoH69XCmS
— الاتحاد السعودي لكرة القدم (@saudiFF) June 18, 2018
Other images of the players disembarking the plane have also appeared on Twitter after.
📷 | Национальная сборная благополучно добралась до Ростова-на-Дону pic.twitter.com/9W4jTfCqRa
— Сборная КСА по футболу (@SaudiNT_RU) June 18, 2018
According to The Guardian, Rossiya, the airline responsible for the airline, claimed the preliminary cause of the malfunction was a bird flying into the engine.
Video posted to Twitter has shown flames coming from the engine as the plane is in the air.
https://twitter.com/WorldCup18Info/status/1008792157115879424
Saudi Arabia were hammered 5-0 by hosts Russia in the opening game of the tournament in the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Defeat against Uruguay would almost certainly see them eliminated from the competition, although they also play against Egypt in their final group game.
