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Siberia air passengers had to get out and push their plane in temperatures of minus 52 degrees Celsius after its chassis froze, Russian prosecutors said Wednesday.
The extraordinary story emerged after a passenger posted a video on YouTube showing a group of cheery travellers pushing the Tupolev plane on the snow-covered runway in Igarka, which is beyond the Arctic Circle.
"Everyone wants to go home," one man says.
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"Due to the low air temperatures, the chassis's brake system froze and a tow truck was unable to move the plane onto the taxiway to carry out the flight," prosecutors confirmed in a statement.
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Even for Russians inured to long winters of sub-zero temperatures, the passengers' can-do chutzpah has drawn awed admiration.
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The plane with 74 passengers on board was being operated by a Siberian airline called Katekavia which is part of UTair group. It was flying from Igarka, around 1,750 miles (2,800 kilometres) northeast of Moscow, to the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
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"That morning it was minus 52 (minus 61 Fahrenheit). The plane had stood on the runway for 24 hours and the pilots forgot to take off the parking brake. That caused the brake pads to freeze up," he said.
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In 2012 a UTair plane crashed in Siberia, killing 29, after the wings were not de-iced.
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