A plane conveying Saudi Arabia’s Russia 2018 World Cup players suffered an apparent engine fire before it arrived safely in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday
“The fire was merely an accident” read one tweet from the national team’s verified account while another said the team was “heading to their residence safely.”
Video circulating on social media showed what appeared to be a fire on the wing of an aircraft.
A series of follow -p posts showed Saudi players calmly disembarking the plane and then later arriving at a hotel in Rostov-on-Don.
The plane was provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) organizational committee for the teams participating in the World Cup, the Saudi Football Federation later said in a statement posted to Twitter.
Saudi Arabia plays Uruguay in the city on Wednesday after suffering a 5-0 loss to hosts Russia in the opening game of the tournament.
