Russian airliner en route from Armenia’s Gyumri to Moscow issues distress signal, makes emergency landing

A Boeing 737-800 operating a passenger flight from the Armenian city of Gyumri to the Russian capital, Moscow, issued a distress signal more than an hour after takeoff on Monday and began an emergency descent before successfully diverting and landing at Makhachkala Airport, TASS reported.

Flight DP-856, operated by the Russian airline Pobeda, issued the distress signal while flying over Dagestan, more than an hour into the flight. The aircraft then descended to an altitude of 3,000 meters before being diverted to Makhachkala Airport.

The flight took off from Gyumri at around 11:24 Moscow time and was originally scheduled to arrive in Moscow at 14:05 Moscow time (15:05 Yerevan time).

The flight is expected to continue to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport after a technical inspection, with its arrival at the final destination now estimated at 16:45 Moscow time (17:45 Yerevan time).