Passengers push plane - A Tupolev plane got frozen stuck to the ground in a remote Russian town located just north of the Arctic Circle earlier this week and had to pushed by passengers before it could make the journey to Krasnoyarsk.
"In order to deliver the plane to the taxiway, the passengers were invited to leave the plane and move to a bus parked nearby. After that, some of them arbitrarily left the bus and approached the plane trying to assist with the use of physical force," a spokeswoman for the West Siberia Transportation Prosecutor, Oksana Gorbunova, has told the press.
Reports indicate that a wrong kind of grease was used for the plane, causing it to freeze up at the Igarka airport.
"When people pushed the plane, the wheel cranked out, and then the aircraft could move," the technical director of Katekavia, Vladamir Artemenko, has revealed.
The 'passengers push plane' story has been widely reported online. A short video of the frozen plane passengers apparently in the act of pushing the plane has gone viral. But there is some contention as to whether it is indeed possible and if the airline did allow the passengers push plane.
Gorbunova said the plane was moved by a truck. According to her, the Tupolev-134 plane could have become damaged if the frozen plane passengers moved it with force. An airport official says the frozen plane passengers likely posed for a selfie by the plane in the 'passengers push plane' pictures circulating online.
But one of the frozen plane passengers has confirmed to Life News that they manually pushed the aircraft. He revealed that himself and other of the frozen plane passengers pushed the plane for about five metres or more backwards.
Images of the passengers pushing the plane at -52C have been described as simply priceless. Reports indicate that the 70 frozen plane passengers were predominantly petroleum workers, who were returning home.
The 'passengers push plane' incident has attracted praiseful comments about the determination of Russians. The plane is reported to have landed in Krasnoyarsk with no incident.
