NEW DELHI, India: Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi made an unscheduled stop in Moscow today when his plane developed engine trouble, the Press Trust of India reported.
Press Trust of India said the number three engine on Gandhi’s Air India Boeing 707 was shut down when a fire warning indicator came on about a.m. hour and 20 minutes after he left Prague on his way home from visits to Britain, Mexico, and Czechoslovakia.
The air-liner landed without incident, Gandhi was met at Sheremetyevo. Airport by first Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhal Kapitsa and left in a borrowed Aeroflot airliner after a six hour stopover. The pilot elected to stop in Moscow, somewhat off the air route to New Delhi, because Air India has an office and service facility in the Soviet capital.
Gandhi made an unscheduled but deliberate stop in Moscow in October, 1985, following a trip to London, New York, Nassau and the Netherlands.
By coincidence the weekend marked the 15th anniversary of the Indo Soviet friendship treaty.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 15, 1986
