December 23, 2002 - 22:02 AMT
MOSCOW-YEREVAN FLIGHT PLANE FORCE-LANDED IN BAKU AIRPORT
"Aeroflot" Russian air company plane executing Moscow-Yerevan flight on the night of December 22-23 force-landed in Baku "Bina" airport. As "Aeroflot" Yerevan office told "Arminfo" agency, Boeing-737 had to make an emergency landing in Baku, as Armenian airports refused to receive the plane with 131 passengers on board due to bad weather conditions. The plane twice circled within the air space of Armenia. After that it made an emergency landing in "Bina" airport, where it stayed some 2.5 hours. Within that period of time the passengers did not leave the plane. In order to avoid incidents the plane was guarded by local police. According to the information provided by the Central Administrative Board of the civil aviation of Armenia, the Armenian air flying control officers maintained permanent contact with their Azeri colleagues. It became possible to receive the Boeing in "Armenia" Yerevan airport only this morning.